Best of the bunch sustain gold standard
Before the passing of torch to younger peers, Taurasi lists 2016 U.S. team cream of crop
RIO DE JANEIRO — It’s one of six USA Basketball teams to have won every Olympic gold medal awarded since 1996, merely the latest link in a chain that has produced 49 wins in a row beneath the Olympic rings.
But Diana Taurasi says this 2016 team is the best of them all, and she should know.
Taurasi, one of three four-time Olympians on Team USA alongside Sue Bird and Tamika Catchings, scored 17 points and hit five of seven 3-point attempts Saturday afternoon, and the U.S. women won the Olympic gold medal in a walk, 101-72 over Spain.
Second-time Olympian Lindsay Whaley also scored 17 points, and Olympic rookies Elena Delle Donne and Brittney Griner of Houston had 10 points and seven rebounds, respectively, for the Americans, who during this remarkable 20-year run have come at opponents with generation after generation of talented, motivated stars eager to maintain the tradition with which they have been entrusted.
“I would think so,” Taurasi said when asked if this team is the best of them all. “And I’m not saying talent-wise, I’m not saying margin of victory-wise. I’m saying this is the most determined, unselfish team I’ve ever been on, hands down.
“It’s one thing to get a lot of talent together. It’s another to have everyone play at their highest level. You can have all-star teams, but not everybody plays at an all-star level. We have an all-star team, and everyone played to that potential.”
Glancing toward Geno Auriemma, her college coach at Connecticut and architect of the current USA Basketball win streak, Taurasi said, “That man, he finds a way to put things together and make them work.”
The Americans had to compete, but the final outcome was never truly in question. Spain, led by Alba Torrens with 10 of her 18 points in the first period, tied it at 17-17 with a minute to go in the first quarter as the U.S. shot 41 percent from the field and missed five of 11 free throws in the first 10 minutes.
But Tarausi, as part of a unit on the floor that included five of Auriemma’s former players at Connecticut, made back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter to give the U.S. its first double-digit lead in a 16-3 run that increased the U.S. lead to 43-27.
It was 81-49 at the end of three quarters as the United States hit 14 of 17 from the field, and from there the only question was whether Griner and Auriemma would survive unscathed after the former Baylor center picked the 62-year-old coach off his feet with a bear hug after the final horn sounded.
“It was a long way up for him,” Griner said. “I said, ‘You OK? Getting a little woozy?’ I made sure I didn’t mess up his hair.”
Emotions flared in every direction afterward. Seimone Augustus, the three-time Olympian and native of Baton Rouge, La., burst into tears and said “This is for you, Baton Rouge,” when asked about the flooding that has beset Louisiana this month.
Catchings, the former Duncanville standout who was reduced to limited playing time in her final year before retirement from the national team and the WNBA, talked of having to adjust her expectations to fit in with what the team needed.
“I never thought I would have this opportunity to represent my country four times,” she said. “One time is like one in a million. … Seeing the flag go up and hearing the national anthem played, it never gets old.”
Taurasi, the daughter of an Italian-born father and Argentinian-born mother, glanced toward Auriemma, smiled and said, “Not bad for two immigrants. Not bad for two immigrants.”
Auriemma, coach of the last two gold medalists, spoke of the pressures and expectations of representing USA Basketball in international play and said of the group it assembled, “It’s the perfect team. In so many ways, it was the perfect team, and it was a pleasure to coach them.”
And perhaps most ominously for the rest of the world, the three veterans who are not expected to return for 2020 — Bird, Taurasi and Catchings — have now imparted what’s expected of them to the three Olympic rookies in Griner, Della Donne and Breanna Stewart, who accounted for 25 points and 12 rebounds.
“That can be us,” Griner said of her younger teammates, referring to Catchings, Bird and Taurasi.
Looking down at her first gold medal, she smiled and said, “I’m addicted to this now.”