What To Watch For: USA vs. Serbia (Wednesday, 2:30 PM ET)

Entering the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, the U.S. Women’s National Team was a heavy favorite to take home the gold. And through two games, it’s easy to see why. So far, the U.S. has outscored their opponents 224-119, as the Americans have cruised past Senegal and Spain.
With two of the top three scorers in WNBA history, the league’s last eight scoring champions, and six of the seven leading scorers in the WNBA this season on the team, Rio should have installed specially made fireproof nets. They didn’t, but the Americans have commenced setting them ablaze anyway.
The 121 points scored against Senegal were a USAB Women’s Olympic record, and the back-to-back 100-plus point performances were their first since 2004. The squad is shooting an impressive 59.6 percent from the field, every single player has scored, and the team has 59 assists on 87 baskets.
Here’s a crazy stat: Those 59 assisted baskets the U.S. has made are 17 more than the total amount of baskets scored by their opponents. You could throw out every single unassisted basket and the USA would still be dominating.
Defensively, the U.S. has been light years ahead, as well, holding their opponents to just 35 percent shooting, while forcing 50 turnovers in just two games.
On Wednesday, the USA will try to continue that domination as it faces Serbia at 2:30 p.m. ET. Watch online or on NBC Sports Network.
Between Ana Dabovic (Los Angeles Sparks), her sister Milica (Serbia’s veteran captain and point guard), Sonja Petrovic (Phoenix Mercury), and Jelena Milovanovic (formerly on the Washington Mystics), this Serbian side has plenty of talent.
It’s also a side the Americans know “really well,” as Diana Taurasi put it. In addition to Dabovic and Petrovic playing in the WNBA, players such as Taurasi and Brittney Griner have run into Serbian players while overseas in the winter. Plus, the U.S. won a hard-fought 94-74 victory over Serbia in the 2014 FIBA World Championship, a game that featured many of the same players that will meet Wednesday in Rio.
Serbia, despite being 0-2 in these Olympics, should not be taken lightly.
According to Taurasi, “The way they play makes it hard for you offensively. With the Dabovics (Milica and Ana) and (Jelena) Milovanovic, they just have a lot of weapons. One thing we know about the Serbs is they can shoot; they can score. So it’s always a tough game against them.”
Still, judging by the first two games this American squad played, the U.S. shouldn’t have too much to worry about. They are, after all, in the words of Stefanie Dolson, “looking unstoppable.”