Rested, relaxed, rolling

BEIJING -- Fresh legs. The U.S. women's basketball team has them right now.

How odd that it's true for women who play back-to-back seasons in the WNBA and abroad.

Playing in just one venue at the Summer Olympics is allowing the U.S. women -- who are chasing a fourth straight Olympic gold medal -- to catch their breaths and beat up teams as they did late Wednesday.

Because the real competition is on the other side of the bracket against the Russians and the Australians, the U.S. win in Pool B was a matter of taking care of business. They beat Mali 97-41 at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium.

Mali led 8-7 early after draining a couple of 3-pointers, forcing U.S. coach Anne Donovan to call a timeout with 5:34 left in the first quarter.

It was a brief blip. The U.S. doubled up the Malians by the end of the quarter, 24-12.

The win, with veteran Lisa Leslie scoring 16 points to lead five U.S. players in double figures, came a day after the Americans (3-0) took a rare day off.

"It actually does feel like there's more downtime," U.S. guard Sue Bird said. "Even on days we don't play, we're in our hotel. We don't have to go that far unless we want to see other events. We can pick and choose what we want to do. It is nice."

The basketball year is jam-packed with activity whether the best American players are competing for the U.S. or not. Many U.S. players play overseas during the winter.

Bird and U.S. teammates Diana Taurasi and Tina Thompson helped Spartak Moscow Region win a second straight Euroleague title this winter before the WNBA season started in May.

Thompson wouldn't call Olympic competition "downtime," but she finds the confines of an Olympics limit distractions and give players time to connect.