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"You need Caitlin Clark to beat us" - Team USA stars use Japan fan's taunt as motivation to earn blowout win in Olympic opener
Team USA earned a lopsided win over Japan in its first game of the women's basketball tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Some American players might have been motivated by a Japanese fan's taunting sign before the game even started.
Monday's game was a rematch of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics gold medal game, but Team USA was just too big and much better than Japan. Some of the stars might have gotten some extra motivation after seeing a sign saying the following:
"You need Caitlin Clark to beat us."
In the video below, some USA players saw the sign and A'ja Wilson even pointed at it. Alyssa Thomas seemingly laughed it off, but Wilson, as well as Brittney Griner, looked pumped after seeing it.
A'ja Wilson led the way with 24 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four blocks, while reigning WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart put up 22 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Team USA was just too big and too good for Japan, which was severely undersized.
Brittney Griner, Sabrina Ionescu and Kelsey Plam each scored 11 points, and each player who earned minutes was on the scoreboard. They started pulling away in the second quarter and were just completely dominating in the second half.
However, the headlines were about the below-average attendance for the game despite having the best players in the world showcasing their talents. 13,040 people watched it at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France.
It was around 8,000 lower than the current attendance of women's games and was about 14,000 short of the 27,021 people who watched the opening game between China and Spain on Sunday.
What's next for Team USA?
Team USA remains the favorite to take home another Olympic gold medal. It showed that it is still the best team in the world by a mile following its 102-76 win over Japan, which won the silver medal last Olympics.
A'ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and company will face Belgium next on Thursday before ending the group stage against Germany on Sunday. Both are top teams in the world, but the talent gap is still wide between the United States and the rest of the field.
Nevertheless, fans will continue to monitor the attendance for Team USA games. Some will probably use it to get back at the selection committee for omitting Caitlin Clark from the roster. Clark's star power could have been used to further the sport and increase the WNBA's popularity internationally.
They missed the boat on the possibility of marketing perhaps the biggest star the sport has ever seen. Regardless if Clark was or wasn't on the team, the United States would have still won the gold medal.
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