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Rio de Janeiro • Spain's Silvia Dominguez made the most spectacular play of the Olympic women's basketball tournament, and USA coach Geno Auriemma just smiled.
The Americans could absorb that half-court shot at the third-quarter buzzer Saturday, considering they led by 32 points.
With a 101-72 victory, the USA won a sixth consecutive gold medal. The team's degree of dominance raised the issue of whether that's healthy for the sport worldwide — much like the University of Connecticut's reign over women's college basketball.
Yeah, Auriemma gets that question wherever he goes. In defense of the Olympic field, he pointed to a highly competitive series of games, with some upsets and dramatic finishes. None of them happened to involve the USA, though.
"If you just took us out of the tournament, this would have been an amazing tournament," he said, smiling and pausing. "But unfortunately, we're not going anywhere."
And that's not his problem. Whether he's coaching UConn or the USA, Auriemma's job is to maximize his talent. He certainly did so in Rio, creating an unselfish team that refreshingly seemed to lack any sense of entitlement.
"It's one thing to get a lot of talent together; it's another thing to have everyone play at their highest level, as we've seen with a lot of teams," said Diana Taurasi, a four-time Olympian and former UConn player. "That man finds a way to put things together and make it work."
Talent aside, "We played our butts off, we really did," said Sue Bird, who background also fits those labels.
France trailed by four points at halftime of a semifinal game and Spain was within three points early in the second quarter, before the USA launched a 10-0 run. Those efforts constituted just enough resistance to keep the Americans' showing in Rio from becoming a joke or taking all the fun of the event, while winning eight games by 19 points or more. The USA players deserve appreciation for what they've done since Atlanta in 1996, while various countries have risen and fallen in the sport.
Basketball's not going away, either. The International Olympic Committee scratched softball — and baseball, for the sake of gender balance — after 2008, mainly because the USA team had been so overwhelming. The irony was that with the decision having been made, the Americans lost 3-1 to Japan in the gold medal game in Beijing.
Softball and baseball will be reinstated in Tokyo in 2020, and we'll also see if the world has caught up at all to the USA in basketball by then. That's possible, with the Taurasi-Bird-Tamika Catchings generation giving way to younger players, but also doubtful. Women's basketball in America is very good, and the sport should be celebrated.
The late Larry H. Miller never really embraced his Utah Starzz, yet the Jazz owner should get some credit here. He agreed to help launch the WNBA, now in its 20th season, by operating a franchise in Salt Lake City. The Starzz lasted only six years before Miller sold the team and it moved to San Antonio, but he's part of the legacy of a league that has enabled girls to grow up in America knowing that domestic pro basketball is a career option.
The league's growth and the rise of women's college basketball have created talented players who should dominate the Olympics, just as they're doing.
The USA players came together in the middle of the WNBA season, with the nice coincidence of having four teammates from Minnesota and two each from Phoenix and Seattle adding to the cohesion. The team's depth wore down one opponent after another. Auriemma was surrounded by five of his former UConn players, but coaching this team required more than just filling out a starting lineup.
The job came with the challenge of keeping all 12 professional basketball players engaged and satisfied about playing their parts. "I don't live in their world," Auriemma said. "I've got to hope that they trust me."
Breanna Stewart willingly became a complementary player for this USA team, even with her credentials of winning four NCAA titles at UConn and becoming the WNBA's No. 1 pick. Like her teammates, she got her reward Saturday. "I've done a lot, at 21," she said, clutching her gold medal, "but there's nothing that compares to this."
Twitter: @tribkurt