Women's basketball – U.S. beats Nigeria 88-74
The United States women's basketball team has beaten Nigeria 88-74 to advance to the semifinals of the Olympic tournament in Paris.
The U.S. will take on Australia in the semifinals on Friday as it continues its quest for an eighth straight gold medal.
You can follow The Athletic's Olympics coverage here (click 'follow' in the top right-hand corner). And for today’s news from around Paris, click here.
U.S. faces familiar foe in semifinals
Friday's semifinal between the United States and Australia features the top-ranked team in the world taking on the third-ranked team. The U.S. is 19-0 all-time against Australia and has played them in several high-profile Olympic games in recent years.
Three of those meetings came in three straight gold medal finals at the Olympics, from 2000 to 2008. The U.S. won 76-54 in 2000, 74-63 in 2004, and 92-65 in 2008.
The two teams also met in the quarterfinals at the last Olympics in Tokyo, the U.S. winning that one 79-55.
Advertisem*nt
Top performers
United States
- A'ja Wilson: 20 points, 10 rebounds
- Jackie Young: 15 points
- Breanna Stewart: 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
- Alyssa Thomas: 6 rebounds, 6 assists
Nigeria
- Promise Amukamara: 19 points
- Amy Okonkwo: 17 points, 8 rebounds
- Ezinne Kalu: 16 points, 6 assists
U.S. defeats Nigeria 88-74, advances to semifinals
Kalu makes a bucket in the closing seconds and Copper takes exception, hitting Kalu with the ball after it drops from the hoop. Kalu steps towards Copper before players from both sides prevent the situation from escalating any further.
As pictured above, Kalu speaks to U.S. head coach Cheryl Reeve after the play. A technical foul is called on Copper but the game ends without further incident shortly thereafter.
It's unclear what Copper was upset about – it's possible she expected Nigeria to run the clock out instead of attacking, though you normally don't make that assumption about the losing team.
Q4 1:00 United States 86-71 Nigeria
Nigeria is on a 12-0 run and has cut the U.S. lead down to 15, but it will be too little, too late. Still, plenty to irk the American coaching staff.
Where the U.S. is winning
Q4 5:14 United States 86-59 Nigeria
As we play through the fourth quarter here, let's look at some of the key areas the U.S. has used to build its large lead.
- Shooting percentage: U.S. leads 62% to 37%
- Rebounds: U.S. leads 36 to 23
- Assists: U.S. leads 29 to 14
- Points in the paint: U.S. leads 42 to 20
- Bench points: U.S. leads 33 to 6
U.S. leads 76-48 after third quarter
Copper just came off the U.S. bench for the first time and promptly hit a three, getting a fortunate bounce to get the shot to drop.
All 12 players on the U.S. roster have now scored in this game, led by Young with 15 points.
Advertisem*nt
Q3 1:54 United States 71-41 Nigeria
The stifling defense from the U.S. forces a shot-clock violation, Nigeria's 12th turnover of the game.
We've reached the point of the game at which the conversation topics of NBC's commentators are really starting to wander, including hitting on Noah Eagle's basketball abilities.
Q3 4:23 United States 65-39 Nigeria
Okonkwo hits her first three-pointer of the game after missing her first four attempts. She taps her chest in apology to her teammates.
Nigeria has scored just six points in this quarter, in which time the U.S. lead has grown from 19 to 26.
Q3 7:24 United States 60-33 Nigeria
A beautiful full-court pass from Gray gives Young an easy layup in transition as the U.S. have now begun the half on a 8-0 run.
Q3 8:47 United States 58-33 Nigeria
Six straight points by the U.S. to open the second half pushes their lead up to 25. The first bucket came from a beautiful give-and-go play from Stewart to Collier.
Q3 10:00 United States 52-33 Nigeria
The second half is underway at Bercy Arena!
Advertisem*nt
Faces in the crowd
Bercy Arena is full of celebrities for this game, including:
- Legendary swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky
- 14-time NBA All-Star Dirk Nowitzki
- Members of the U.S. men's basketball team including LeBron James and Bam Adebayo
- NBA commissioner Adam Silver
U.S. defensive pressure paying off
After winning the first quarter by nine, Team USA edges Nigeria by 10 in the second to take a 19-point lead into halftime. The Americans are trapping Kalu and the other Nigerian ball-handlers up high, using the half-court line as a pseudo-third defender to force turnovers, and the transition game has been on point for Team USA.
As pictured above, one of these half-court pressures nearly allowed Ionescu to steal the ball for an easy bucket, but she slipped and tumbled to the floor at the sideline.
U.S. leads 52-33
Stewart gets a bucket on a fast break right as the first half comes to a close to push the U.S. lead to 19 points.
Young hits a deep two-point jumper before Wilson adds a layup after a rebound in the paint to push the U.S. lead to a new high of 15.
Three-point shooting has been at a premium so far – the U.S. is 3-for-10 while Nigeria is just 1-for-9.
U.S. going back to what worked against Germany
Q2 4:06 United States 40-29 Nigeria
And now we have a look very similar to the Germany game (first time we've seen it this game) with A'ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Wilson on the floor with two other bigs (currently: Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier). The Aces trio + two bigs was a particularly effective lineup for this group against Germany. They were the five that helped Team USA regain their footing in the second quarter (going on a 17-7 run) and then extending the lead in the third (going on a 20-7 run).
Will be interesting to see if they can be as productive here.
Advertisem*nt
Kalu leading the way for Nigeria
Ezinne Kalu has been a challenge for Team USA to contain. She's been able to create space easily in the midrange, settling into her elbow jumper for 10 points to lead all scorers. The Americans don't have any perimeter stoppers in their rotation other than Young, and Kalu has gotten loose in the second quarter with Young on the bench.
U.S. switching up rotations
So far, the rotations have kind of been a mishmash of what we saw through the group stage games. Team USA went with Jackie Young in the starting group as the team decided to feed the hot hand. Then in the second quarter, Cheryl Reeve put in A'ja Wilson for Jewell Loyd while Alyssa Thomas and Brittney Griner were already on the floor, going with a look similar to what Team USA ran with during the Belgium game when they played three bigs at all times.
Nigeria begins the second quarter by quickly cutting its deficit to six points, before Kunaiyi-Akpanah has a jumper to cut the lead to four go halfway down the hoop before rimming out.
The U.S. quickly scores four points of their own to push its lead back up.
