Team USA’s women’s basketball team struggled in a close win over Italy on Sunday afternoon.
The American women topped Italy, 55-52, in a tightly-played game on Sunday. Team USA is now 2-0 on the tournament, after topping China in the first game. But Sunday’s close win over Italy sparked concerns.
“Let this be the last time that a team plays with more passion than us throughout the course of the game,” head coach Kara Lawson said postgame. “Let this be the last time that all 12 don’t show up to compete at a high level. And then let this be the last time that we lack a resilient mindset, because we’re so upset that we’re not scoring the way we’re normally scoring. That to me is what we’ve gotta grow and mature in moving forward.”
Lawson added, “Your contribution is not limited to how well you score the ball. Your contribution has to be your effort, your passion, your energy, your intensity that you play with, all right? We gotta be the hardest playing team in this tournament. We will not win on our talent, even though our talent is awesome. But we will not win on it.”
But after the tight win, speculation is swirling, with some analysts suggesting that Team USA’s stars “don’t like each other” and “it shows.”
WNBA analysts weigh in on the claim
“Angel Reese can’t stand Caitlin Clark and she plays her best basketball when they’re playing together because they both care about winning above all. Not everyone else on the team can say the same, and *that* is the problem. If winning isn’t your priority, you don’t belong there,” one fan wrote.
“I think they are disjoined and you did see everyone trying to play different games. They weren’t on one accord and also shots weren’t falling. It’s a chemistry issue, not about disliking each other,” one fan added.
“The olds don’t like the youngs. And you’d think the young’s would be the ones hating each other given their battles in college and their fan bases but shit they’re the ones showing amazing chemistry,” one fan added.
“Gray and Young play on the Aces with A’ja who played sick to not go to games and face CC. It’s all tied up with their unrequited jealousy of CC. pitiful,” one fan added.
It’ll be interesting to see how things develop for Team USA moving forward.
