US women look to jell quickly in Berlin as World Cup looms with little practice time

BERLIN (AP) — The U.S. women's national team is short on practice time heading into a major competition where anything less than winning a gold medal is considered a failure.

The Americans will have to jell quickly if they hope to win a fifth straight FIBA women's World Cup. The tournament begins Friday, when the U.S. plays China in one of eight games in Berlin.

The Americans already have had a couple of practices in Berlin since their staggered arrivals, marking the first time that the 12 players on the squad were together as a team. The U.S. is working in a bunch of young, new players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers, with half the roster making its World Cup debut.

Having little practice time is nothing new to the Americans.

“It’s good to get the group together. It’s a new group. The beneficial thing about us is that even though we haven’t practiced with each other much, but we know our games really well because we scout each other every single day (in the WNBA),” veteran guard Chelsea Gray said. “So we know people’s strengths. I think basketball players, we compartmentalize better than anyone. So this is no different, we're going to have to learn on the fly.”

They'll have less time to get ready because this World Cup format is different from the 2022 one. With 16 teams competing in Germany instead of the 12 they had four years ago, each country will play only three games in the preliminary round, down from five in Australia. That gives the U.S. fewer games to figure out rotations and work on its on-court chemistry, but it does give them more rest time.

“It’s just more of being really focused and locked in when we do have our time together, and we know that there’s a lot of information to install,” coach Kara Lawson said. “I don’t think it’s changed the way I would normally coach. It’s just being very direct with what we want done, and they were great today in practice at picking up a lot in a short period of time.”

If the Americans do win their group, which also includes China, the Czech Republic and Italy, they'll have two days off before the quarterfinals. Gray doesn't mind having fewer games.

“It's less on our bodies honestly, especially with the pause in the WNBA season,” the 33-year-old Gray said. “I like a little bit of a break."

Usually the World Cup begins right after the WNBA season finishes. This time, the league is pausing for two weeks because of the international competition.

“It's definitely different,” said Breanna Stewart, who has helped the U.S. win the last three World Cup gold medals.

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