United States vs. Spain 2016, Olympic basketball: Time, TV schedule and team news for women’s gold medal game

Team USA women’s basketball is going to win their sixth-consecutive gold medal game on Saturday afternoon, and can come in pretty confident about doing so because they beat their competition, Spain, by 40 points 12 days ago. The only question was whether they would play with or without Sue Bird, who missed the semifinals with a knee capsule sprain, but after going through walk-throughs, she’s good to go.

As expected though, the Americans have decimated their competition in Rio, with the team’s most decisive game coming in the semifinals against bronze medal hopeful France, who they whooped by 19 points. The undefeated U.S. team is winning by an average of 38 points per game, have won by 40 or more points four times out of seven, shoot 11 percent better than the next-best team, and score 24 more points per game. Their gold medal loss would be one of the most shocking in Olympic history, and will not happen.

Brittney Griner is poised for another big game, as part of the USA’s power trio this tournament including Maya Moore and Diana Taurasi. Against Spain the first time around she scored 8 points and grabbed 3 rebounds in the game’s first seven minutes in the post. Her size was too much. Griner’s sometimes under appreciated backup, Sylvia Fowles, also played well, scoring 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting in just 12 minutes. Their’s a noticeable hole where Atlanta Dream big Sancho Lyttle would’ve been playing for Spain had she not broken her foot in July.

The scariest part of the last time the teams played for the Spaniards is that the aforementioned other impact players, Moore and Taurasi, didn’t even play all that well. Moore hadn’t found her groove scoring the ball yet, only netting 8 points on 4-of-10 shooting. Taurasi, who has tied her own old US three-point record of five twice and broken it another time when she swished six, only hit three.

For Spain to compete, they’ll have to hope for an off shooting day for the Americans and Astou Ndour will have to find a way to limit Griner in the post. All tournament long, coach Geno Auriemma has given the 6-foot-8 center looks in the opening quarter to get his team started. Ndour, at 6-foot-6, should be able to better contest some of her shots and through Team USA off course. Spain will also have to do a better job all-around on the boards, an area they lost 46-32 in as all but two Americans grabbed one.

A silver medal for Spain will still be historic in its own right, as the team’s first-ever Olympic medal. It’s been a wild ride for the Spaniards as well, needing a one-legged running floater at the buzzer from point guard Anna Cruz to advance the team to the semifinals. And with Australia out of the picture, a second-place finish means they’ve already overachieved.

How to watch the gold and bronze medal games:

Time: 10:30 a.m. ET

TV: USA

Streaming: NBC Sports

Time: 2:30 p.m. ET

TV: NBC

Streaming: NBC Sports