Team USA will go for gold in the women’s basketball tournament of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics against Japan. Will Team USA beat Japan anew and fly home as an Olympic champion again? Or will Japan stun the Americans? Check out our preview of this game below.
Japan will come into the gold medal match with just a loss in the tournament, which came at the hands of the Americans in group play to the tune of an 86-69 score. After that loss, Japan crushed Nigeria (102-83), barely survived Belarus (86-85), before defeating France in the semifinals (87-71). Japan struggled to shoot in the first meeting with Team USA, but it could be a different story this time around. The Japanese are coming off an explosive offensive performance against France in a game that saw them shoot 52.5 percent from the field and knock down 11 of 22 shots from behind the arc. Japan is the better outside shooting team than Team USA, as it is making over 40 percent of its 3-point shots in the tournament. Yuki Miyazawa, who is averaging 13.2 points, went 3/7 from deep against France. She is shooting 45.2 percent from downtown in the tournament so far. That outside shooting will have to click for Japan to upset Team USA.
It’s been nothing but dominance for Team USA in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The Americans are undefeated through five games with an average winning margin of 16.8 points. In Team USA’s last game, Brittney Griner put up a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds. He could do that again against the undersized Japanese squad that has a couple of 6-1 players as the tallest on the roster. Team USA, on the other hand, has five players standing 6-3 or taller. Griner, at 6-8 should be able to dominate again. She had 15 points on 7/11 shooting in the first meeting with Japan. A’Ja Wilson, who is 6-4, had 20 points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks in 27 minutes in that game. Team USA should easily win the rebounding battle against Japan, while having its way in the paint versus much smaller defenders. The Americans are averaging 45.8 rebounds to just 33.0 of Japan.
