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US Women Get Gold

// August 24th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Sports

See the hardest thing (for me) about the recent OGs is picking who to root for. The Opals or the US? A host of current and former Storm players and a coach are involved. It’s really cool to see Birdy and AD rejoice over the US women’s 92-65 victory over the Australian Opals but it’s really really hard to see the disappointment painted on Lauren Jackson, Tully Bevilaqua, and Suzy Batkovic’s faces.

But in the end, one team has got to emerge on top. And it was the US, who got their fourth straight gold.

BTW, so LJ’s gonna have ankle surgery after the Games. What on earth is gonna happen to my Storm huh?

Beijing 2008 : WBB Semifinals

// August 20th, 2008 // No Comments » // Sports

So the stage is set — for the semis, at least. Barring any surprises from the Russians and Chinese, this could be very well my dream US — Opals Gold Medal Match-up.

The following are the results of the quarter finals:

Quarterfinal game 1 Final NATION SCORE Belarus 62 China 77 Box Score	Quarterfinal game 2Final NATION SCORE Czech Republic 46 Australia 79 Box Score
Quarterfinal game 3 Final NATION SCORE Spain 65 Russia 84 Box Score	Quarterfinal game 4 Final NATION SCORE South Korea 60 United States 104 Box Score

According to the results, the semifinal pairings will be:

United States vs. Russia
Australia vs. China

⇒ The U.S. team is very deep in talent and well, barring any phenomenon where EVERYONE on the team would have an off-night (*crosses fingers*), they would easily take this game. But let’s not count the Russians out just yet. They may have bowed down to the US women during the Diamond Ball Tournament but they could turn things around — remember the recent World Championship Semi-Final Game where they absolutely owned Sue Bird and Company? Uh-huh, that game. Please don’t let that happen again, please?

⇒　I haven’t watched any game (boohoohoohoo) but I’ve been reading and hearing nice stuff about Sylvia Fowles. Wow. Monster stats and monster games. She’s even more effective down there than Lisa Leslie.

⇒　I just read earlier today that Penny Taylor, the Opals’ three-point specialist, sprained her ankle and she has no chance in hell to play in the semis. I said before that the Opals are rocking but wait-a-minute-now I’m not so sure they can beat the US WITHOUT PENNY FRIKKIN’ TAYLOR.

⇒　Non-OG’s update but still somewhat related. Opals Captain (and Seattle Storm star) Lauren Jackson will have surgery on her right ankle after the Olympics and will not finish the season. OMFG, what’s gonna happen to the Storm?! Waaaaaah! LJ contributes a very big bulk of the scoring for Seattle. I’m not so sure who will be able to fill that gap. Sue? Can you? Ugh. Damn injuries. After the OG’s we’re gonna have 5 (is it 5?) road games and almost, if not all, of those are against teams with playoff dreams. So good luck Stormies.

⇒　I still haven’t decided who to root for in case the Opals and US actually make it to the finals.

Olympic WBB Update

// August 18th, 2008 // No Comments » // Sports

No, I haven’t watched any game coz I can’t find no frikkin’ coverage in my part of the planet. Booo! Tried CCTV yesterday but they only showed the China vs Germany Men’s Game. What was I thinking — of course they’re gonna show it, CCTV is a Chinese channel after all. Drat.

Anyone has an idea how I can watch a game? I’m pulling for a US-Australia Gold Medal Game (*crosses fingers*). Kinda excited coz the Opals rock and I totally wanna see the LJ-LL smackdown haha. And oh, of course, Sue at the helm and Taurasi too, and fine, (sige na nga) Candace Parker. I still haven’t decided which team to root for.

Anyhoo, the current standings are the following:

Group A	Wins	Losses	Pts
Australia	5	0	10
Russia	4	1	9
South Korea	2	3	7
Belarus	2	3	7
Brazil	1	4	6
Latvia	1	4	6

The undefeated World Champion Opals (go Opals!) are leading Group A after they beat a strong contender in Russia (with Becky Hammon and Maria Stepanova and Svetlana Abrosimova) 75-55.

Australia, Russia, South Korea, and Belarus (I think … or is it Brazil — not sure) will enter the quarterfinals.

Group B	Wins	Losses	Pts
United States of America	5	0	10
China	4	1	9
Spain	3	2	8
Czech Republic	2	3	7
New Zealand	1	4	6
Mali	0	5	5

The US Women top Group B and will enter the quarterfinals undefeated as well. In their last preliminary, they defeated New Zealand 96-60, causing the Tall Ferns to be eliminated from the next stage of the competition. Sue Bird and Company will face South Korea in the QuarterFinals.

Road to the Quarter-Finals

【Australian Defence Force Opals】

Aug 08 : Australia 83 — 64 Belarus
Aug 11 : Australia 80 — 65 Brazil
Aug 13 : Australia 90 — 62 South Korea
Aug 14 : Australia 96 — 73 Latvia
Aug 16 : Australia 75 — 55 Russia

【US WNT】

Aug 09 : USA 97 — 57 Czech Republic
Aug 11 : USA 108 — 63 China
Aug 13 : USA 97 — 41 Mali
Aug 14 : USA 93 — 55 Spain
Aug 17 : USA 96 — 60 New Zealand

Photo Source: Getty Images / Yahoo! Sports

FIBA Diamond Ball Conclusion

// August 6th, 2008 // 4 Comments » // Sports

The US women beat reigning FIBA World Champions Australia 71-67 Tuesday night to get the top spot in the FIBA Diamond Ball for Women. The hard-fought contest seemed like a good preview for the game that would really matter — the August 23 gold medal clash. That’s the date that most people expect these two teams to meet anyway, although Russia or China or maybe Brazil might have something to say to that.

Penny Taylor (Phoenix Mercury) led the way for the Australian Defence Force Opals with 19 points and Lauren Jackson (Seattle Storm) had 16 and 8 boards.

Lisa Leslie (LA SpOrks) had 14 and 10 for the US women and point guard Sue Bird (Seattle Storm) contributed 11 on five-of-six shooting (WTG Birdy!). Candace Parker (LA SpOrks) also had a great showing with 12 buckets.

Tournament MVP: Lauren Jackson (AUS)

All-Tournament Team:
Lauren Jackson (AUS)
Sue Bird (US)
Diana Taurasi (US)
Candace Parker (US)
Sui Feifei (CHN)

Diamond Ball Finals

// August 5th, 2008 // 6 Comments » // Sports

The finals of the Diamond Ball Tournament (a friendly tune-up before heading into the Olympics) will feature the highly anticipated match-up between super-powers US and Australia after both squads went 2-0 in their respective groups. The tourney also featured 2006 WC silver medalist Russia (ya know, that squad that knocked Sue and company out of the WC gold medal match back then?) and emerging China.

The Australian Opals, led by captain Lauren Jackson (Seattle Storm) won over China (84-70) and Mali (112-43) to get to the finals. LJ posted some very nice numbers (which is not that much of a surpise, BTW). Suzy Batkovic and Penny Taylor, among others, added the necessary supporting firepower.

The US Women, on the other hand, had to face Latvia and emerged victorious through balanced scoring (84-74). And then they had to face Russia (ya know, that squad that knocked Sue and company out of the WC gold medal match back then? Yes, that Russia). It was the first match-up for point guard Becky Hammon (San Antonio Silver Stars) against her home country. The US won 93-58 in that suprisingly lopsided game.