United States head coach Steve Kerr is expecting a tough game against underdogs Brazil when the sides meet in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games on Monday.
The USA qualified for the knockout round as the top seed after staying perfect in the group stage, rounding it off with a 104-83 victory over Puerto Rico on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Brazil are the underdogs in the competition and squeezed into the last eight thanks to a tiebreaker and some excellent 3-point shooting to see off Japan in what turned out to be the deciding game.
While the USA are on the opposite side of the draw to the powerhouses of Canada, France and Germany, Kerr is not letting the four-time reigning Olympic champions rest on their laurels.
"They're very physical. I think they're the number one offensive rebounding team in the tournament," Kerr said.
"They've got a lot of really good shooters, and they just play hard. They compete play after play, so we'll have to be ready for their physicality and their shooting, and we need to be on edge and ready for them because they're not going to back down.
"In the spirit of the Olympics and the marathon/sprint metaphor that I've used, now that we've been through it, I would call it the 800 meters," Kerr said. "We're running really hard, but it's not the 100 meters."
In the opening three games, Brazil had six different players averaging eight points or more in the Olympics, while the team averaged 13 offensive rebounds per game.
The USA have already given up 16 more offensive rebounds than they have got, one of the few weak spots in the team challenging for a fifth consecutive gold medal.
Kerr's team face Brazil on Monday, with a place in the semi-finals against either Serbia or Australia at stake.
WNBA awards expansion team to Portland
The WNBA announced Wednesday it has awarded an expansion franchise to the City of Portland that will begin play in 2026.
Portland joins the California Bay Area and Toronto as new franchises set to enter the WNBA within the next two years, bringing the league to 15 teams. The Golden State Valkyries will debut in 2025, with Portland and Toronto starting the following season.
The Portland franchise will be owned and operated by the Bhathal family, which paid $125 million for the club. Lisa Bhathal Merage will serve as controlling owner and WNBA Governor, while Alex Bhathal was named Alternate Governor.
“For decades, Portland has been the global epicentre of sports lifestyle and today, we are now the global epicentre of women’s sports,” said Lisa Bhathal Merage. “We believe in the transformative power of women’s sports and are thrilled that the W will call Portland home.
"We know that Portland’s vibrant and diverse communities will highly support and rally around this team. Our goal is to grow this organisation in partnership with the Portland community, and we look forward to supporting the best women’s basketball players in the world when they take the floor at the Moda Center in 2026.”
The Bhathals also own the National Women's Soccer League's Portland Thorns and are investors in the NBA's Sacramento Kings.
Portland previously had a WNBA team, known as the Fire, that folded after three seasons in 2002.
“As the WNBA builds on a season of unprecedented growth, bringing a team back to Portland is another important step forward,” said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. “Portland has been an epicentre of the women’s sports movement and is home to a passionate community of basketball fans. Pairing this energy with the Bhathal family’s vision of leading top-flight professional sports teams will ensure that we deliver a premier WNBA team to the greater Portland area.”
Engelbert said in April the WNBA's goal is to expand to 16 teams by 2028, though it's unlikely the league adds another franchise before 2027.
Aces star Wilson has first 1,000-point season in WNBA
A'ja Wilson became the first player in WNBA history to score 1,000 points in a season in the Las Vegas Aces' 84-71 win over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.
Wilson finished with 29 points and reached the 1,000-point mark on a pull-up jumper with two minutes remaining.
Wilson's latest milestone came just four days after she established the WNBA single-season scoring record, breaking the mark of 939 points set by Jewell Lloyd in 2023.
The Aces have won seven of eight games and own a one-game lead over the Seattle Storm for the No. 4 seed in the play-offs and home-court advantage in that series.
Wilson wasn't the only WNBA star with a memorable performance on Sunday, as Caitlin Clark scored a career-high 35 points in the Indiana Fever's 110-109 win over the Dallas Wings.
Clark also added eight assists and combined with Kelsey Mitchell to hit 12 of Indiana's 16 3-pointers.
Clark has already established a WNBA rookie record with 761 points, and her 329 assists are the most by any player in a single season in league history.
Clark sets WNBA assists record in Fever's loss
Caitlin Clark set the WNBA single-season record for assists with 320 in the Indiana Fever's 78-74 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Friday night.
Clark scored all 18 of her points in the second half and finished with nine assists and eight rebounds. The rookie broke the mark of 316 set last season by Alyssa Thomas of the Connecticut Sun.
Clark was scoreless on 0 for 5 shooting in the first half and picked up her third foul when she was called for a charge late in the second quarter as the Aces took a 43-35 lead into the break. She scored 14 points in the third quarter to help the Fever trim a 13-point deficit to 60-57 heading into the fourth quarter.
Clark has continued to make history throughout her first year in the WNBA, surpassing the single-season three-point record among rookies on Aug. 28. She also dished out 19 assists in a loss to the Dallas Wings in July, setting a single-game record.
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