BEIJING--Even Tina Thompson’s three-year old son, sitting in the stands during the American women’s basketball team’s 108-63 victory against China on Monday had to be impressed. After all, his mother led all scorers with 27 points, including 21 in the first half.
“He’s seen us for a long time; he might be a little over it,” Thompson said.
His former best friends, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird, have now been replaced by his new best friends, Chris Paul and LeBron James, whom he sees every day in the team hotel. “We’ve become a little old,” Thompson said, but, for the Americans, blowout victories aren’t old at all, given the group had little preparation together before the Olympics.
“It’s the Olympic games,” Thompson said. “The goal is so much bigger than this one game. The score doesn’t matter. You don’t care about the margin, just the effort.”
Thompson missed just one
Candace Parker, who scored 12 points, reaches for a rebound in front of China’s Liu Dan in the American team’s 108-63 victory against the host team. |
shot (a three-point attempt) in the first half as America led, 61-27. At one point, mostly during a 23-0 American run, she had as many points (19) as China did with three minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Her 27 points tied the fourth best total in American women Olympic history.
“She shot the lights out,” said China’s Coach Tom Maher. “If you picked the best five players in the world, she’s one of them.”
Throughout her career, Thompson, 33, has alternately been overshadowed despite her lofty credentials: No. 1 overall draft pick in 1997, the Women’s National Basketball Association’s inaugural year; WNBA All-Decade team; four-time WNBA champ with the Houston Comets; and 2004 Olympic gold medal winner.
“That’s old Houston Comet Tina right there,” Taurasi said. “She was amazing today.
“There is no one I would rather go into a game with than Tina. When she gets it going, how versatile she is, its’ pretty much whether she wants to miss or not.”
The American team (2-0) plays vastly over-matched Mali on Wednesday, followed by Spain on Friday and New Zealand on Sunday, and is not expected to be challenged much before the quarterfinals.
“We’ve been tested for two years and had too many losses for all these players,” said Coach Anne Donovan, whose team slipped to the bronze in the 2006 world championships.
“I don’t fear them losing their hunger or their focus.”
Candace Parker, who scored 12 points, reaches for a rebound in front of China’s Liu Dan in the American team’s 108-63 victory against the host team.
