New top story from Time: ‘We Started Something Special.’ Team USA Wins First-Ever Women’s 3×3 Basketball Olympic Gold

https://ift.tt/3zOVQjZ

The Team USA 3×3 basketball squad—featuring WNBA players Stephanie Dolson of the Chicago Sky, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young of the Las Vegas Aces and Allisha Gray of the Dallas Wings—won the first-ever women’s gold medal in Olympic 3×3 basketball on Wednesday Night at the Aomi Urban Sports Park in Tokyo, getting by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), 18-15. China squeezed by France, 16-14, for the bronze.

From the outset, Team USA controlled the game; and showed off the balance of its attack. On the first U.S. possession, Gray took it hard to the basket to draw a foul. Plum hit lefty scoop shot; her favorite trick. The 6’5″ Dolson—who goes by the Instagram handle is “bigmamastef”—used her size to grab an offensive rebound and score. She finished with nine rebounds, each one seemingly more crucial than the last. The U.S. rushed out to a 12-5 lead, but Russia fought back, to put it to 15-12 with 1:30 left. After Plum missed a three-pointer with 1:16 left, Dolson positioned herself to grab another offensive rebound. She got fouled and hit two free throws to gave Team USA a 17-12 lead with 1:16 to go. In 3×3, a five-point advantage at that point in the game is enormous, as two-point shots are worth one-point and three-pointers worth two. After Russia cut it to 3, 17-14, with 44 seconds left, Dolson, of course, had another rebound and putback that essentially sealed the game.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

“She’s very much the consummate teammate,” said Team USA 3×3 coach Kara Lawson after the game. “She feels a responsibility to do her part, for her team. And a big responsibility of a post player is to rebound. And she’s accountable for that.”

The Americans were more aggressive; they went to the foul line 11 times, converting eight free throws. Russia did not go the foul line once. The U.S. out-rebounded Russia 21-11.

After the game, a relaxed, smiling Dolson, towel hanging over her left shoulder, waved and smiled to the Team USA support staff. For the Russians, it was too much Big Mama Stef.

3x3 Basketball - Olympics: Day 5 — Christian Petersen—Getty ImagesStefanie Dolson, Jacquelyn Young, Kelsey Plum and Allisha Gray of Team USA celebrate victory and winning the gold medal in the 3×3 Basketball competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Aomi Urban Sports Park on July 28, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.

Two of Russia’s players, Evgina and Olga Frolkina, are twins. Tonight was their 24th birthday. Afterwards, a small group in the crowd sang to them. They’ll celebrate with silver.

Three-on-three—officially 3×3, with the “x,” in the Olympic lexicon—debuted as a quirky Olympic curiosity in Tokyo. Goofy music blared during games: few expect to hear Pat Benatar’s “I Love Rock and Roll” during Olympic action. The public address announcer also offered commentary. “Niiiice pass,” he said during the women’s final. Games are 10 minutes long: the team that grabs a rebound dribbles or passes out to the three-point line, then goes on the offensive attack. With the 12-second shot clock, no team can milk a time; a comeback always felt possible. The games were fast, furious, and fun, giving the Games a little playground vibe.

The games hinge on player movement and reward crisp passing and unselfish play. Clever screens lead to layups. The refs let a lot more bumping go. With fewer defenders clogging the middle, the flow is freer.

3×3 basketball proved it belonged at the Olympics. And the U.S. women took advantage. As of Tokyo’s Tuesday night, the sport gave the United States an 11th gold medal; the Americans trails only Japan (13) and China (12) in the race for most gold at the Games.

Before the victory ceremony, Dolson fist-bumped and chit-chatted with Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, while the four Russian players huddled closely together, seemingly devastated. Dolson placed the medals around the necks of her teammates on the podium; Gray draped Dolson in gold. “In 10 years we’ll look back and [say] ‘damn, we did that,’” said Dolson. “Hopefully we started something for USA Basketball when it comes to 3-on-3. Everyone knows us for 5-on-5. I think we started something special with this as well.”

Comments

Mumbai terror attack 12 years on: Remembering the heroes of 26/11 https://ift.tt/2J9bWA8

Floral tributes were paid on Thursday to the martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists who attacked Mumbai on November 26, 2008. "Their sacrifice will never be erased from the memory of time and history. Today, we pay tribute to our saviours #2611Attack #2611Martyrs," Mumbai Police tweeted.

More trouble for Chinese cos as India changes trade rules in public procurement https://ift.tt/2EeBklg

Amid the border tension with China, the government has changed trade rules imposing restrictions on public procurement from China and other countries with the common border. According to the changed rules, the government has imposed restrictions on firms, companies from countries which share common land border after it amended the General Financial Rules 2017. An official statement on Modi government latest move said that this has been done on the grounds of defence of India, or matters directly or indirectly related thereto including national security. The Department of Expenditure has, under the said Rules, issued a detailed order on public procurement to strengthen the defence of India and national security, it said. Here what the order says: As per the order, it said, any bidder from such countries sharing a land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services (including consultancy services and non-consultancy services) or works (...

Biking by the Numbers: San Francisco’s 2019 Biking Statistics

Biking by the Numbers: San Francisco’s 2019 Biking Statistics By Bradley Dunn Bicycling moves people around San Francisco using less space per person than when people go by driving. The SFMTA encourages bicycling and makes yearly ridership and trend data public. While Bike-to-Work day has moved to September this year due to the ongoing pandemic, we are excited to share San Francisco’s 2019 citywide bicycling data that we usually release in May. The SFMTA uses a variety of bicycle infrastructure and data metrics as indicators of a healthy and growing bicycle network. In 2019, the Agency prioritized the development of a robust data management system, improving high-quality bikeway infrastructure to make bicycling less stressful and more appealing, and expanding access to bikeshare services across the city. As in past years, 2019 data is pulled from the SFMTA’s automated bike counters, annual manual count data, operator-provided bikeshare data, and the US Census. Here are some key fin...

New top story from Time: Bomb Targeting Mosque in Kabul Kills a ‘Number of Civilians’

https://ift.tt/3Fg5SxS KABUL, Afghanistan — A bomb exploded in the entrance of a mosque in the Afghan capital on Sunday leaving a “number of civilians dead,” a Taliban spokesman said. The bomb targeted the sprawling Eidgah Mosque in Kabul, where a memorial service was being held for the mother of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who later tweeted the attack had claimed civilian lives. Taliban fighters were not been harmed in the attack, Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told the Associated Press. Those killed in the attack were civilians outside the mosque gate. He did not provide a figure for the number killed and said an investigation was ongoing. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Emergency NGO, an Italian-funded hospital in Kabul, tweeted it had received four people wounded in the blast. The area around the mosque was cordoned off by the Taliban, who maintained a heavy security presence. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, since the Tal...

New top story from Time: Facebook’s Ties to India’s Ruling Party Complicate Its Fight Against Hate Speech

https://ift.tt/3b0vAI8 In July 2019, Alaphia Zoyab was on a video call with Facebook employees in India , discussing some 180 posts by users in the country that Avaaz, the watchdog group where she worked, said violated Facebook’s hate speech rules. But half way through the hour-long meeting, Shivnath Thukral, the most senior Facebook official on the call, got up and walked out of the room, Zoyab says, saying he had other important things to do. Among the posts was one by Shiladitya Dev, a lawmaker in the state of Assam for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He had shared a news report about a girl being allegedly drugged and raped by a Muslim man, and added his own comment: “This is how Bangladeshi Muslims target our [native people] in 2019.” But rather than removing it, Facebook allowed the post to remain online for more than a year after the meeting, until TIME contacted Facebook to ask about it on Aug. 21. “We looked into ...

New top story from Time: The Fight for a $15 Minimum Wage Is Our Selma

https://ift.tt/37oF2Ez After the public lynching of George Floyd last summer, his cry of “I can’t breathe” galvanized a movement for Black lives that won majority support among Americans . Floyd wasn’t the only one gasping for breath. While Americans watched a police officer choke the life out of Floyd, we also witnessed Black Americans contracting a deadly respiratory disease at three times the rate of our white neighbors , according to an August report from the National Urban League. The growing public consensus that we as a nation must address systemic racism has led to serious soul-searching in families, churches, universities, corporations and political life. But just as the Selma campaign became a symbol during the civil rights movement of the need for legislation to expand voting rights, the $15 an hour minimum wage proposal in Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan represents the possibility that our government can take decisive action to make racial justice real tod...

New top story from Time: ‘We Not Human At All.’ Why the Fight to Unionize an Alabama Amazon Warehouse Could Spur a Labor Union Resurgence

https://ift.tt/3sGpMvz Darryl Richardson is bone-tired. For a year, he has labored in a sprawling Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, collecting the home office supplies, fleece sweatpants, antibacterial wipes and other pandemic purchases that millions of customers have been adding to their virtual shopping carts since the warehouse opened in March 2020. As a “picker” for the retail giant, it is Richardson’s job to gather the items and put them in a tote where they can be sent for packing and shipping. It’s monotonous, labor-intensive work and Richardson says it has taken a physical toll on his 51-year-old body. “I go in there and give it all I can give them,” he says. “My hands be achy, my legs be sore, I be too tired when I get off to do anything. Sometimes I don’t even eat. That’s how tired I be.” But when he’s not working his 10 hour shifts or picking up mandatory overtime hours as a picker, Richardson is taking on a task that is perhaps even more exhausting: chall...

New top story from Time: Cleveland Baseball Team Reportedly Dropping Indians Name After 105 Years

https://ift.tt/2LpSBeG (CLEVELAND) — The Cleveland Indians are changing their name after 105 years. Citing three people familiar with the decision, The New York Times reported Sunday night that the team is moving away from a name considered racist for decades. The Indians have been internally discussing a potential name change for months. A team spokesman told The Associated Press the franchise has no immediate comment on the report. The Times said the team could make a formal announcement later this week. It’s not known when the name change will take affect or if the team has settled on a new moniker. Cleveland’s move away from Indians follows a similar decision earlier this year by the NFL’s Washington Football Team, which was previously known as the Redskins. For years, Native American groups and others have protested against Cleveland’s use of Indians as its name as well as other imagery used by the American League charter franchise founded in 1901. Last year, the ...

Meet the People who Keep You Safe on Muni

Meet the People who Keep You Safe on Muni By Mariana Maguire Next time you ride Muni or see a Muni vehicle, keep an eye out for the faces of some of the people of the SFMTA working to keep customers and fellow staff safe on Muni, day to day. They include members of our Muni Transit Assistance Program , Proof of Purchase team, our Muni operators, as well as our head of Safety, Security and Investigations. Staff in our Muni Transit Assistance Program ride Muni \ to help address conflicts.Our Proof of Purchase team, Station Agents and Transit Inspectors support customer safety by providing an extra presence on Muni vehicles, at stops and in stations and assistance if issues arise. And our Muni operators provide the first line of safety for customers. While their primary responsibility is to operate their vehicles safely, they can also help address conflicts onboard when necessary and when it is safe for them to do so. In the case that it’s not possible or safe for an operator to...

New top story from Time: Netflix Defends Dave Chappelle’s Anti-Trans Remarks and Suspends a Trans Employee

https://ift.tt/3ByxX1p Netflix Inc. co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos defended the company’s decision to air a controversial Dave Chappelle comedy special featuring trans jokes as “artistic freedom.” “We don’t allow titles [on] Netflix that are designed to incite hate or violence, and we don’t believe ‘The Closer’ crosses that line,” he wrote in a memo last week obtained by Variety Monday. “Particularly in stand-up comedy, artistic freedom is obviously a very different standard of speech than we allow internally as the goals are different: entertaining people versus maintaining a respectful, productive workplace.” The company on Monday also suspended three employees who crashed an executive meeting last week, including Terra Field, a transgender worker who spoke out against the Chappelle special, according to a person familiar with the matter. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “What we object to is the harm that content like this does to the trans community (especial...

My precise view

Search This Blog