The men’s basketball team isn’t the only U.S. team flashing gold-medal form in the early stages of the Olympic Games.
The U.S. women’s basketball team improved its record to 2-0 with a 90-61 victory over Cuba on Monday in front of a crowd that included Chelsea Clinton. The United States will play Russia on Tuesday.
The Americans stretched a six-point halftime lead into a 29-point blowout with a stepped-up transition game and pesky defense.
Katie Smith led the U.S. with 15 points, hitting all six of her shots, including three three-pointers. Teresa Edwards scored 13 points, Sheryl Swoopes had 11 and Lisa Leslie 10. Kara Wolters, who did not play in the first game against South Korea, added eight points off the bench.
“You think you’ve got them and then they come in with their second five,” Christi Harrower, an Australian point guard, said of the U.S. team’s depth after an exhibition loss to the U.S. women last week. “There’s hardly any dropoff. In fact, sometimes there’s none.”
The Australians, considered one of the U.S. women’s rivals here, topped Brazil 81-70 in a later Group A game. Australia made 60 percent of its shots in the second half.
The Aussies (2-0) are trying to set themselves up for a showdown with the United States in the medal round.
Not that anyone genuinely would crave a matchup with the U.S. women. They shot 55.1 percent and outrebounded Cuba 34-20.
The lithe and skilled Cuban center, 6-foot-5-inch Yamilet Martinez, fought her way inside for 17 points in the first half on 8-of-12 shooting. But she picked up her third and fourth fouls within 50 seconds of each other with 16 minutes 45 seconds remaining and was limited to two points the rest of the way.
With Cuba trailing by only 50-46 moments earlier, the United States went on a 14-4 run with Martinez out of the game.
U.S. front-line players Leslie, Yolanda Griffith and DeLisha Milton all were on the bench with two fouls just 6:14 into the game. That forced coach Nell Fortner to go to her bench.
The U.S. again played without 6-2 forward Chamique Holdsclaw, who has a stress fracture in her right foot and probably won’t be back until the medal round.
Meanwhile, it was business as usual for the U.S. men’s team, which barely broke a sweat in defeating China 119-72 in Sunday’s opener. The U.S. men face Italy on Tuesday.
“We just want to win a gold medal,” guard Gary Payton said after the Americans overcame a slow start. “People are going to emphasize the slow start. We won by 50 points, so that doesn’t make a difference.”
Ray Allen scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting and Vince Carter had 16 for the U.S.
Overseas players are supposed to be closing the talent gap, but the U.S. stars don’t see it.
“The more games they can play in the NBA, the better off they’ll be,” guard Jason Kidd said. “If you were to say, `I need to count on [Chinese 7-footer] Yao Ming as my guy coming off the bench or starting’ . . . it wouldn’t happen.
“There have been guys who come to the NBA from Australia and there’s a lot of hype and anticipation and it didn’t last too long. They never get off the bench.”
Guard Allan Houston, recovering from a sore wrist, didn’t play, but is expected to return against Italy.
The Italian team upset Lithuania on Sunday.
