No one ever said this was going to be easy. Despite the seven straight gold medals, despite the 55-game Olympic win streak, the U.S. women's basketball team insisted all along that these Paris Olympics would test them; the rest of the world has simply gotten too good to think otherwise.

The first of those tests came Thursday, in a group-stage showdown against a Belgium team with talent, experience, toughness and a raucous partisan crowd behind them at Stade Pierre Mauroy. And while it wasn't always pretty for Team USA, it eventually passed, showing real mettle down the stretch of an 87-74 victory.

"It's always a misnomer that you think just because we've won a lot that it's been easy," Diana Taurasi said. "Every Olympics is hard. I can go back to the last five and there's always moments that are really hard for us as a team. Tonight was a really hard moment for us and we came through."

As it has been all summer, it was Breanna Stewart and A'ja Wilson leading the way for the U.S. The dynamic frontcourt duo combined for 49 points on 16-of-26 shooting to go with 20 rebounds and six assists, wearing Belgium down with their size and athleticism. Next up for the Americans is a showdown with undefeated Germany on Saturday, Aug. 4, that will decide Group C, with tip set for 11:15 a.m. ET. 

Read on for a full recap and key takeaways from a wildly entertaining game.

Belgium comes out swinging

This Belgium team is no pushover. The reigning EuroBasket champions came into these Games with tons of momentum and one of the very best players in the tournament in Emma Meesseman, and after a disappointing opener against Germany, it was no surprise that they gave the U.S. a hell of a punch in the opening minutes.

With Meesseman (team-high 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting) cooking in the paint and some outrageous jump shots from Julie Vanloo, Belgium played the U.S. to a 23-23 draw in the first quarter. And every time it seemed like Team USA was about to put things away for good, the Belgians found an answer, rallying back from double-digit deficits in the second and third quarters. An Antonia Delaere three cut the lead back down to seven with six minutes left in the game, and things still felt very much in the balance, while the decidedly pro-Belgian crowd was getting louder and louder.

"It was incredible," Stewart said. "We knew we were going to get a big crowd, being so close to Belgium. It's what you want at the Olympics. I hope when we get to LA (in 2028), we have that."

U.S. overwhelms with size, athleticism

That was as close as the Americans would allow them to get, though. Wilson poured in a quick three points, and then consecutive runouts off of steals led to consecutive layups for Stewart that put things out of reach for good.

Which, really, was the story of the game for the U.S., and the thing above all else that makes them so very difficult to beat: They simply have big, fast, strong players everywhere, throwing arms in every passing lane, and it's only a matter of time before the dam breaks. Belgium shot just 41% for the game, and even more tellingly, they shot 5-for-27 from 3-point range, forced to take a steady diet of contested jumpers because the paint was walled off.

"Any time we have a lead, I'm never going to be afraid," Wilson said. "I don't care how close it is – it could be one, it could be 100, I'm always going to have faith in what we can do. I always know that we can pull away, so I wasn't shaking in my boots."

The U.S. held a massive 49-27 rebounding advantage, 16-6 on the offensive glass, and shot 29 free throws compared to just 12 for Belgium. Even on a day when the team missed an inordinate number of shots at the rim — it's very, very rare for this team to shoot under 50% from two-point range, as it did on Thursday (24-for-51) — the math will always tilt in Team USA's favor, and those second chances and fast-break opportunities create easy points even when the half-court offense has bogged down a bit.

Turnovers remain an issue

Of course, while Belgium deserves a ton of credit, it wasn't the only reason this game remained competitive until very late. Some of the same issues that plagued Team USA at times in the opener against Japan reared their heads again here, namely turnovers — the U.S. committed 17 for the game, five in the first quarter alone, often as a direct result of trying to force the issue inside against a set and very active defense.

Teams are going to commit all of their resources to collapsing on Wilson, Stewart, Alyssa Thomas (eight points, six rebounds, four assists) and Brittney Griner. Those are four all-world players, but even they can't get through two or three defenders at once, and they need to be better moving forward about keeping the ball and not trying to do too much. 

In the end, a win is a win, and there's only so much hand-wringing to be done when you beat a good team by 13 points. But it's not hard to project a knockout-round matchup against, say, France's swarming defense, and wonder how the U.S. attack will respond.

The U.S. women have already punched a ticket to the quarterfinals next week. But Group C remains up for grabs, with a game against undefeated Germany on Sunday at 11:15 a.m. ET for all the marbles. Germany has looked very impressive against both Japan and Belgium and figures to provide another stern test.