This is the Morning Win. For the next couple of weeks, we’ll be writing each weekday morning about the Tokyo Olympics. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning.
Over the year’s we’ve had a number of individual GOATs at the Summer Olympics – from Michael Phelps to Simone Biles to Katie Ledecky, just to name a few.
But it feels like we sometimes overlook one program that continues to be the absolute most dominate group at the Olympics – the U.S women’s basketball team.
Today in Tokyo the U.S. ran over Australia, a team that had stunned them in an exhibition game just last month, 79-55 in a quarterfinal game that was never in question. The win puts the U.S. in the semifinals and keeps them as the favorite to win gold yet again.
Here’s the crazy part of that victory, though – it was Team USA’s 53rd straight Olympic win. They haven’t lost a game at the Olympics since the 1992 bronze medal game.
1992! That is just ridiculous and wildly impressive.
Year after year after year the women’s national hoops team has groups of stars that simply cannot be stopped. It’s incredible and inspiring, unless you’re playing against them.
It also feels like this is a streak that isn’t going to stop any time soon because of the mix of veterans and young players has this team set to win for years to come. (Man, I hope I didn’t just jinx them.)
Breanna Stewart, who is just 26 and already a legend, had her best game of the Olympics against Australia, scoring 20 of her 23 points in the first half as she basically helped crush Australia’s hopes before the halftime break.
While this year’s men’s team has struggled a bit to find its way (they’ve rebounded from their loss in the opener and will play Australia in the semifinals tomorrow), the women’s team continues to just be a dominant force that is incredible to watch.
And now they’re are just two more wins from another gold medal.
Quick hits: Taylor Swift reaches out to Simone Biles… NBA fans had jokes about the very old Lakers… Golfer’s brutal miss… And more.
– Taylor Switft and Simone Biles had a really sweet exchange on Twitter yesterday.
– The Lakers added Carmelo Anthony and NBA fans had jokes about how old this team has gotten through free agency this year.
– I feel terrible for this young golfer who missed a tap-in putt that could have led to his first start in a PGA Tour event.
– Here’s a brief history of the beef between Joel Embiid and Andre Drummond, who are now teammates in Philadelphia.
– Charles McDonald looks at five undrafted free agents that can have good seasons in the NFL this year.
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