Mercury's Diana Taurasi says international basketball 'different sport' ahead of Olympics

[RandySF]

There's no better person to compare the WNBA to international women's basketball competition than Diana Taurasi.

Taurasi is the league's all-time leading scorer, and in her illustrious 20-year pro career led the Phoenix Mercury to three titles. She also won several EuroLeague championships and MVP awards playing for teams in Russia and Turkey, and this summer, she is going for her record-setting sixth gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

"Playing international basketball is like a different sport," Taurasi said after Phoenix's 97-86 win at Washington to close the season's first half on Tuesday. "The ball’s different, the lines are different, the buzzer’s different, the refs are different."

Taurasi further explained the nuances of competing domestically and abroad against other countries in the Olympics.



https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/wnba/mercury/2024/07/17/diana-taurasi-usa-basketball-olympics/74431890007/

[moniss]

1. It will be interesting

because the refs can be key about how tightly they are going to call the physical grabbing, pushing off etc. I've watched some international games where they make the W refs look downright consistent.

[Mosby]

2. she said that soccer is the "true love of her life"

not really digging that comment, and I say that as a Mercury fan.