Tokyo 2020 Wheelchair Basketball: Women's Medals Day Round-Up
Let's dish out some hardware
Every day throughout the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, I will be bringing you a round-up of the goings-on in the Wheelchair Basketball event. My Bench Units co-host, James MacSorley, is actually competing in the Paralympics and so has better things to do than write up details of the games.
As you may know, the Tokyo Paralympics are taking place in Tokyo. Tokyo is 8 hours ahead of the UK, so some of the games are happening in the dead of the night for me.
I’m making it my mission to watch as many of the games as I can so I can do the best possible write-ups here. If I don’t get the chance to watch a game, I’ll state that up front and my review will be based on the stats, plus any educated guesses I might have, or anything that sounds plausible enough that I can say I heard it from James and blame him if it’s incorrect. I promise I’m not biased for or against any teams.
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Let’s get into it…
5/6 Playoff: Turkey 58 - 74 Australia (Men)
6:15am UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: Australia by 9
In a match-up of teams who probably feel like they should be competing for a medal, it was Australia that was able to ride their veterans to a win and secure 5th place.
Australia have had a weird tournament. The mid-point lineup looked devastating as they got out to a 3-0 record in the pools, then losses against the USA and GB seemed to trigger a bit of an identity crisis that they couldn’t overcome in time to win their quarter-final game against Japan.
The 1/3/3/3/4 configuration is most likely still the future for the Aussies, and it’s what they relied on for the majority of this game. The difference was, however, that they didn’t rely as much on their younger guys in Tom O’Neill-Thorne and Bill Latham (who didn’t play at all, for reasons I’m unsure of) to carry the load. Instead, they put Tristan Knowles into the starting unit in Latham’s place, and let the old guard carry them to a win for what might be their last hurrah.
Knowles, who has had a quiet tournament, poured in 31 points on 18 shots. Starting seems to suit him. Shaun Norris, who has spent a lot of the tournament managing possessions rather than taking total control, took charge a bit more and added 23. Brett Stibners also got in on the farewell tour act and chipped in 7 points.
Turkey have proven themselves to be full of old-school firepower in their own right, but they couldn’t match Australia’s vintage performance today. Ozgur Gurbulak (6 points, 8 assists) was harassed by the Australian mobile guards and, as has been the formula they’ve been forced into lately, had to outsource the bulk of the playmaking to Ugur Toprak (12 points, 4 assists). Turkey got limited contributions from a couple more guys who we might also have seen the last of, as Ferit Gumus and Deniz Acar were held to 14 combined points, and Fikri Gondogdu didn’t see the floor at all.
While a 5/6 playoff game might seem pretty inconsequential, there’s a chance that we’ve just seen the final game in the careers of up to 7 guys that have been around since I went to watch my first international wheelchair basketball tournament in 2010.
If this is the end of an era on both sides, I still think that both teams have a bright future. Australia through their younger group and Turkey through whatever citizenship antics I’ve heard they have in the works.
Women’s Bronze: Germany 51 - 64 USA
9:45am UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: USA by 12
After a game a couple of days ago where every single USA player spent every minute on the floor under strict Chinese surveillance, with every move they took being observed like when you need the toilet in the middle of an exam and the teacher basically follows you into the cubicle, I imagine that even the bronze medal doesn’t feel as sweet as putting up 64 points.
After spending the semi-final with every Japanese defender on her like a weighted blanket, Rose Hollermann still didn’t have her best shooting game but did break loose for a 12-point, 12-rebound, 10-assist triple-double. Natalie Schneider matched her 12 points on only 5 shot attempts, while Courtney Ryan had 14 points and 6 assists.
The real story for the USA was Lindsey Zurbrugg. Fresh off of being named to my Group Stage All-Stars, the first-time Paralympian went all the way the hell off on Germany. Zurbrugg had 22 points to lead the USA, and hit countless shots under intense pressure from the defense and the shot clock. One of the reasons that the women’s game is traditionally lower scoring than the men’s is because the ability to get decent shots up in the dying seconds of the shot clock has something to do with brute force, and doesn’t always lend itself well to the female side of things. Zurbrugg apparently has other ideas.
After winning gold in Rio, bronze here might seem like something of a disappointment, but it’s important to remember that this team only has 3 returnees from 2016 and the average age of this team is only 25, by a long way the youngest of any roster in the top 4 of this tournament.
Germany were led by 26 points from Mareike Miller and 12 from Katharina Lang. Those ladies still have a lot of miles in the tank, and Germany will be relevant as long as they say so.
Women’s Gold: Netherlands 50 - 31 China
12:30pm UK Time
Yesterday’s prediction: China by 5
Well, China by 5 this was not. Although you can cut me a break, because that’s almost as many points as they scored during a 20-minute stretch of this game.
After winning the first quarter 9-12, China’s usual tactic of scoring just enough to allow their suffocating defense to keep them in front failed them. The Dutch were content to weather the storm and allow them to continue to shoot outside, while also putting in a very effective full-court defense of their own.
Relying entirely on mid-range looks vs the Netherlands’ interior attack was never going to be sustainable for the Chinese if they couldn’t keep the Netherlands out of the paint. To their credit, they did as good of a job on Mariska Beijer as anyone’s managed at any point in the last 5 years, as they held Holland’s resident monolith to 9 points on 14 shot attempts. The extra attention really paid off for the Dutch supporting cast, as Bo Kramer took the reins and delivered 15 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists, while Jitske Visser and Carina de Rooij chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Netherlands haven’t finished anywhere but first at a tournament since getting bronze at Rio 2016. Most people would associate that with Mariska’s dominance, but they proved there’s more to their squad than just a singular force of nature.
After an entire, undefeated, run of grinding every game and opponent into dust, maybe the fatigue factor hit China at this point. They’ve leaned heavily on their starting 5 all tournament, and only extended to 6 players today. They couldn’t summon their usual one run of hot shooting, and even that might not have been enough today.
With medals in hand, neither of these teams looks like they’ll be up for being knocked off the perch any time soon. The women’s game might be the strongest that it’s ever been.
Up Tomorrow… Men’s Medals Day!
Borrowing an old Bench Units gimmick that myself and Ben Fox (also in Tokyo - really need some colleagues who aren’t too good for me) used for the World Championships in 2018, I’m going to list out tomorrow’s schedule and my predictions for the results, based on almost nothing at all.
2am - Men’s Bronze Medal Game - Spain vs Great Britain - GB by 7
4:30am - Men’s Gold Medal Game - USA vs Japan - USA by 4
Man, as if this whole thing is nearly over. Check in again tomorrow for the final round-up!