OLYW - Record not only question posed by Cambage dunk

LONDON (Olympics) – Was Liz Cambage’s dunk midway through Australia's third quarter against Russia was the first ever in Olympic history?

The question was hotly debated in the media tribune and elsewhere.

Dunks are not officially recorded statistics, so there will be no official confirmation. Only a lot of talking to journalists, players and officials who have attended women’s Olympic basketball over the years.

We think it was.

Also debated was whether individual plays should be able to overshadow entire games, team basketball and less spectacular key moments in games.

Russia's Becky Hammon – on the receiving end of the dunk – said it was good for the women’s game.

“Lizzie posterizing us is good for women basketball,” she said.

“I just hope I wasn’t in the picture.”

Actually she was.

“I wasn’t thinking about it, it just came naturally,” said Cambage after the game.

The answer came with an expression that suggested a mixture of pride and shyness. Happy and proude, but also somehow looking like she had just done something she wasn’t really meant to.

“I was up on the ring and though ‘Jesus, I’m doing it.’”

One of the greatest players of all time, Lauren Jackson was in awe of her younger teammate: “She had people defending all around her. She just made it look so easy. I wish I could do that.”

During the postgame press conference it was the main topic of conversation.

The women’s game is different, for a number of reasons. It is not about how high you can jump or who scores the best alley-oop.

The tactical emphasis is different.

Women’s basketball specialist and fiba.com columnist Paul Nilsen says: “Arguable, you can execute plays easier because fewer of the female players have massive egos, they don’t care about their personal stats as much.”

Maybe this is why Cambage seemed a bit embarrassed by it.

Hammon, who has been in the game for a long time, recognised the importance of moments of individual brilliance while putting them into perspective.

She took as an example another outstanding Australian individual play: Belinda’s Snell’s buzzer-beater against France to force overtime (which they would go on to lose).

“Snelly hitting the half-court shot sending it into overtime... People aren’t going to remember that they lost that game, they are going to remember that shot.”

“Making those historic moments is great.

“But if you ask any player, it’s about the outcome of the game, about winning.”

Whether a dunk or a buzzer-beater, such moments do have an impact. They affect how the women’s game is perceived and they

huge role in developing women’s basketball by generating aspiration and creating passion for the game.

“Five years from now they are going to remember that dunk.”

FIBA