At least one rumor was making the rounds. U.S. center Lisa Leslie heard that the Russian women’s basketball team had printed up gold-medal T-shirts. Russian star Ilona Korstin denied that.
There also was the promise of flying elbows and well-placed forearms.
“I played over there last year, so I know how good they are,” U.S. forward Yolanda Griffith said. “I knew it would be physical. I knew it would take 40 minutes to win.”
There was even a bit of skulduggery involved.
“When you play Russia, you know they have so many tricks in their bag,” Leslie said. “You don’t know what they’re going to come with.”
All of that added spice to Friday’s game at Olympic Indoor Hall, where the U.S. escaped 66-62 and moved into Saturday’s gold-medal game against Australia.
“We weathered the storm,” said Leslie, who had 11 points and seven rebounds.
This was the first storm they faced at the Olympics, where their average victory margin had been 29.2 points, and it was expected.
The U.S. had trouble reacting to 7-foot center Maria Stepanova. She was forcing the 6-5 Leslie to alter her shots, neutralizing the Americans’ inside game and forcing the U.S. to rely on outside shooters who were firing blanks.
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Sheryl Swoopes missed the only shot she took in this first half, and Shannon Johnson missed all four of hers. Diana Taurasi shot just 2-for-5, so the U.S. could never could unleash a run to put distance between it and Russia.
“But at the end of a game, you have to have players on the floor who undertstand the sense of urgency,” U.S. captain Dawn Staley said. “You can’t let the situation control you.”
That was the sense that drove Swoopes, who buried a 15-footer with 3 minutes 51 seconds left. Swoopes followed with an 8-footer from the left baseline.
“She was basically struggling, so I give her credit,” Leslie said. “She was the open player, and she came through.”
Said Staley: “Those were plays we’ve come to know Sheryl will make. She hadn’t been shooting well, but you know she’ll make those shots at the end.”
Those were the only two shots Swoopes made, but they made the difference. They raised the U.S. lead to six, and it didn’t slip below that until a meaningless Russian basket with a second left.
“That game was a little more mind-rattling than the ones we’ve been having,” Leslie said.
“But when it’s over, you go, `Yeah, that was fun.'”