Team USA women's basketball beats Germany at Paris Olympics - ESPN

When playing the Team USA women, you have to deal with their star power, their size and their tremendous offensive talent.

But so far in Paris, playing against this group of Americans has been extremely uncomfortable because of their defense.

The international game is always much more physical, and there's often a bit of a culture shock for American teams when they enter that playing field. But this version of Team USA has embraced it with both arms and used it as a weapon against their competition.

Team USA played absolutely smothering and relentless physical defense Sunday against a reasonably strong Germany team that had been 2-0 in pool play. And despite again not having their best offensive game, that game plan was the basis for another USA victory, 87-68 in Lille, France.

That's 58 Olympic wins in a row and the No. 1 seed in the medal round, which will begin Wednesday as Team USA goes for its eighth consecutive gold medal when the games shift to Paris.

Jackie Young led the U.S. with 19 points with A'ja Wilson contributing 14 and Breanna Stewart 13. Those offensive numbers are just for the record, they were far from the story of the game.

Team USA coach Cheryl Reeve has gotten her team to totally buy in to its ability to dictate the game flow with defensive energy. Whether it was Kelsey Plum and Young at the point of attack, Wilson and Stewart blowing up pick-and-rolls or Napheesa Collier and Alyssa Thomas' active hands, the U.S. just ran a clinic in team defensive basketball.

Germany led after the first quarter and was within single digits several times early in the second half, as the Americans' long-range shooting continued to be a little sluggish early in the game. But they were allowed to have a margin for