Tags
australia, basketball, beijing 2008, lauren jackson, olympics, opals, penny taylor, sylvia fowles, us women
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:
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Quarterfinal game 2Final
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Quarterfinal game 4 Final
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According to the results, the semifinal pairings will be:
United States vs. Russia
Australia vs. China
⇁EThe 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.
Elena Delle Donne