 Forward DeLisha Milton-Jones knows how important depth is to the medal hopes of the USA.
Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images
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"We all knew how big this game was. Just to be able to get the top seed
and not have to face the Americans till the gold-medal game is huge."
- Australian superstar Lauren Jackson after the Opals topped previously unbeaten
Russia 75-55 to clinch the top seed in Group A, to the Associated
Press
"When we struggled at the world championships, a big reason was not having
Lisa in the hole. For our perimeter players, they know if Lisa is behind them
and they get beat off the dribble, she's there to at least change the shot if
not block it. Her influence on the court, you can't put it into words. Off the
court, she sets the standard for sure."
- USA coach Anne Donovan on the role of three-time gold medalist Lisa Leslie,
to the Chicago
Tribune
"I always say Einstein was probably the smartest person in the world when
he was 20. But he was smarter at 30. Give her time. She's going to be great."
- Tom Maher, the Australian who coaches China's Olympic team, on Candace
Parker's limitless future in basketball, to USA
TODAY
"I think it's important. It's something we talked about right before our
first game. We had a team meeting and they put together a little highlight video
for us and posed the question: 'What is your legacy going to be?' But it's not
necessarily something we talk about every day. The only way you can have a legacy
is to win gold. And the only way to win gold is to focus on the task at hand."
- U.S. point guard Sue Bird on how her team can cement its legacy, to the Chicago
Tribune
"We're happy to pose for pictures. Especially if it's after a victory."
- U.S. teammate Diana Taurasi after Wednesday's 56-point win over Mali, to the
Associated
Press
"I saw with Tasha Humphrey a tenacity there I didn't realize she had.
She's a monster in the paint. I knew she could face up and knock down shots,
but she was just a beast in the paint."
- Interim Mystics head coach Jessie Kenlaw on the upside of recent pickup
Tasha Humphrey, to the Washington
Post
"She was a huge part of my plans and what I had hoped to do. All those
intangible things that she brought to the table in terms of her leadership and
you could just depend on her. She was like having a coach out on the floor.
Yeah, I'm going to miss that."
- Kenlaw on the departure of Taj McWilliams-Franklin in the trade for Humphrey,
to the Washington
Post
"Depth is one of those things where the only way it's a strength is if
you use it. The way you use it is to force the tempo to be really high."
- Taurasi on how the USA can best make use of its depth, to USA
TODAY
"Putting the screws in the walls was a little tougher than I expected.
It took some muscle."
- Sun super-sub Barbara Turner after working on a home for Habitat for Humanity
in New London, Conn., to The
Day
"As long as she stays healthy then she will have more opportunitues to
play on this Olympic stage. Hopefully God sees the same thing for her."
- Shelden Williams on the Olympic future of his fiancée Candace Parker
during Monday's game, to The
Olympian
"They (USA) played beautiful. It was like women on children in the 'bigs'
department. It was overwhelming. They were too good for us. They shot everything.
We need unconventional rebounding and they killed us in that area."
- China coach Tom Maher after his team lost to the U.S. 108-63, to FIBA.com
"I could have gone home, sat in my recliner and watched the Olympics on
TV like everybody else. Or I could come out here and take part. The decision,
when you put it in those terms, is really pretty easy."
- American-born star of the San Antonio Silver Stars Becky Hammon, who is
playing for Russia in Beijing, to the Denver
Post
