TOKYO – In the end, they know who they were.
Even as the U.S. women’s basketball team navigated through some uneven stretches at these Olympics, they had an identity that they were confident would carry them to a seventh straight gold medal. It was built around the simplest thing in basketball: Feeding the post and letting big players beat little players.
And against Japan in Sunday’s gold medal game, it was really all Team USA needed to finish off the tournament with a drama-free 90-75 victory.
In a performance as focused and business-like as you’ll ever see on the offensive end, Team USA exploited its tremendous size advantage relentlessly against a Japanese team that didn’t have any answers.