Team USA Wins Fifth-Straight Gold at the FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin, Germany
Paige on the depth of Team USA and the identity that they’ve built throughout the FIBA Women’s World Cup tournament.
Yeah! We think our depth is our superpower. Regardless—throughout the tournament—who plays well, who steps up on different nights, we feel like we all have each other's back. We all have the ability to step up, and for it to be our night. We are really selfless in that. We feed the hot hand. We feed whoever’s got it going that night and we don’t really care about individual statistics. We care about winning, winning gold medals. It starts from the top-down. The vets bleed that and embody that, and us young guys, we just want to help out and play our role as much as possible. That’s really what USA Basketball is about—the sacrifice, putting your ego aside, putting whoever you are on your WNBA team or who you’ve been growing up (aside), and putting on that USA uniform representing something so much greater than yourself.
Napheesa Collier on how Team USA evolved throughout the FIBA Women’s World Cup tournament.
I think we improved every game. Like I said, we came together really fast. We came together, you know, two-three days before their first game. But our communication, what we were doing on the ball, knowing our schemes, knowing how to play together, I think it improved every single game. Coming into this gold medal game, I think we're playing our best basketball.
Napheesa Collier on mentoring the younger players on Team USA’s roster and her biggest piece of advice ahead of the gold medal game.
It's been great. I think the energy that they are bringing is amazing. We have a lot of fun personalities in our younger group. Their effort, I think, has been amazing. The way they're getting steals, rebounds, and those hustle plays has been awesome. So (I have) just (been) telling them to embrace it and make the most of whatever minutes you get. I think that they did that. I think they did a great job.
Head Coach Kara Lawson on working alongside her assistant coaches—Stephanie White, Nate Tibbetts, and Natalie Nakase—throughout the FIBA Women’s World Cup and their impact.
Thank you for asking about them. The players are the most important reason we have won this, for sure—like far and away, number one (reason). But, the assistant coaches would be number two. They are all fantastic head coaches in their own right. You know, they are terrific in terms of teaching, coming up with game plans, in-game adjustments, substitutions, all of those things. It really is collaborative with us. I have learned so much from all of them. I also want to mention Jose Fernandez and Tia Jackson—the scout coaches. They really helped (in) just kind of that advanced scouts and for us to be prepared. Just really thankful for all of their contributions and how bought in they were. I mean, we had great chemistry too. The players had great chemistry, the coaching staff had great chemistry too; and I think players can feel that as well when a staff really gets along.
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