USA cruised past Germany 84-57 in their last warm up game before the Olympics, where they will be in pursuit of their eighth straight gold medal.
With 19 points, A’Ja Wilson led scoring for USA, who bounced back from a defeat to the WNBA Stars last weekend.
Germany were made aware of the tough task they will face at the Olympics as part of USA’s group stage along with Japan and Belgium.
USA head coach Cheryl Reeve said: “You can’t escape, we are a part of one of the greatest sports dynasties ever, in terms of the success.
“It’s also really important that this journey is special to this group. This is our first experience together and so we want to grab hold of that and make it the best experience possible for this and hopefully it’s adding onto the culture.”
Just as LeBron James did in both of the men’s London outings, this team’s veteran Diana Taurasi made the opening bucket.
The 42-year-old is the all-time leader in Olympic games played in women’s basketball and a five-time gold medallist.
USA continued to get off to a fast start, leading by 13 after the first quarter and limiting Germany to single-digit scoring.
Wilson finished the game with 14 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks as well as her 19 points but had already collected a double-double by half-time.
German fans at least got to see their WNBA players suit up with the rest of their group for the first time, including Dallas Wings’ Satou Sabally who played her first 5-on-5 game in five months after recovering from a shoulder injury.
This is because the WNBA is now on a one-month Olympic break, with many of its players suiting up in the competition.
Reeve said: “I’m always so impressed with WNBA players’ ability to move from one thing to the next. So many of the great players, oftentimes you just say this is what we’re going to do and they say ‘ok’ because they’ve done so much.
“They’ve been playing in Europe, they’ve been playing in Asia, they come back here and they play for the national team and they’ve got to turn off wherever they are and just lock in and completely buy into whatever system they’re in.”
Germany head coach Lisa Thomaidis said her team is battling illness, so were missing some players and are yet to train together as a full team.
Regardless, even their fully-fit roster would have had trouble preventing USA domination on the night.
Superstar WNBA rookie Angel Reese looked on as a fan at the O2 Arena, London after dropping a double-double for the WNBA All-Stars against USA.
Will the USA still be this dominant by the time she’s in the Olympic picture? For now, there’s no challengers to report.
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