Diana Taurasi's role has changed, but Olympic gold still goal

Time has changed Diana Taurasi .

Three years ago, when she was preparing for her fifth Olympics, the Phoenix Mercury guard didn't want to look back at her international career.

Eyes forward, stay in the moment, focus on another gold medal. That was the priority.

Taurasi is taking a new approach, on and off the court, this time around. The Paris Games will be her final Olympics , and Taurasi -- who has said over the years that she'll look back when she's retired -- has started to reflect a bit.

"There's so much that goes into this, and sometimes you think it's just all on you, but you have to have all the right ingredients and the people around you," Taurasi told ESPN last week. "And I've just been lucky in that sense."

Taurasi's inner fire won't let her spend too much time taking in the sights and sounds of France over the next couple weeks. She is adamant there's just one way she'll enjoy her final and record-sixth Olympics.

"Win a gold medal," she said. "That's the only way I know how to handle basketball. I'm not distracted by anything. It's the only thing I think about. It's the only thing I prepare for, and that's my only mindset."

With five Olympic gold medals already in hand, Taurasi knows better than anyone -- except retired WNBA legend Sue Bird, who also has five golds -- what it takes to outlast the rest of the world on the Olympic stage. At 42, Taurasi will do whatever is asked of her by national team coach Cheryl Reeve to make a sixth gold -- and the team's eighth consecutive overall -- happen.

"There's no substitute for that level of experience," Reeve said. "She's done it all in big games, won us big games, makes big shots ...  her understanding of her teammates, how to put them in position to be successful. All those things are tremendously, tremendously valuable."

If Reeve wants her to play point guard, Taurasi will. If it means Taurasi needs to play the 2-guard or be a small forward, she'll do that, too. Taurasi started the United States' two warmup games and averaged 18 minutes and 9.5 points, 3.5 assists and 4 rebounds.

Including Monday's Olympic opener, a 102-76 U.S. victory over Japan , Taurasi has played more basketball games (39) than any U.S. Olympian, and ranks second all time in points scored in U.S. women's Olympic competition (416 total points, 10.7 points per game). She captained and started every game in the Tokyo Games, averaging 5.8 points and 3.5 assists as Team USA went 6-0.

A'ja Wilson (24 points, 13 rebounds) and Breanna Stewart (22 points) combined for 46 points and 21 rebounds and shot a collective 21-for-31 from the field against Japan in Monday's win. Taurasi was alongside them in the starting lineup, playing 15 minutes and shooting 1-for-2 from the field for 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.

Taurasi said she and Reeve have had "good" conversations about what the guard's role will be.

"One thing that all this experience has taught me: You have to be ready when your number's called and you have to be ready to do whatever the team needs you to do," Taurasi said. "I never have gone into an Olympics with a role. I just know what it means to be an Olympian, especially on this team. You put the team first and you trust the process."

If it means, her coming off the bench, that works for Taurasi, as well.

"I really don't care," she said. "I want this team to be the best as it can be."

Taurasi's approach to the Olympics has evolved since her first games in 2004. As the elder statesman of the team, she knows experience is one of her greatest assets.

In response, the team around her will trust her and lean on her to help it get through its Group C games -- the U.S. women plays Belgium on Thursday and Germany on Sunday -- the elimination rounds and then, hopefully, the medal rounds.

"If you don't evolve with age and with experience, and if you don't use that, it almost becomes an Achilles heel," Taurasi said. "So I'm gonna try to bring all the wisdom to this team.

"We do have some new faces and the Olympics is a big deal, but the one thing I always tell them is, 'You're on the team for a reason and we need you to be who you are.'"

Wilson, who's playing in her second Olympics with Taurasi, said Taurasi makes everyone around her better. And those around her, like Chelsea Gray , also playing in her second Olympics with Taurasi, are trying to maximize every moment with the WNBA's all-time leading scorer.

"Taking advantage of playing with her, a future Hall of Famer, like getting her flowers while she's still playing, is amazing," Gray said. "It's been pretty cool."

And Taurasi's teammates seem to be savoring her Olympic swan song.

"One of the greatest competitors that the league or women's basketball has ever seen -- or sports has ever seen," Reeve said. "[Taurasi is] a player that we have loved to hate as an opponent, but that means you are really, really doing something great."