By Stefan Djordjevic/ sdjordjevic@eurohoops.net
It may have been “just” a prep game in front of the Olympic Games but beating a superstar stacked Team USA squad is never a small feat, especially so for Nigeria as an African team never got a win from the duel. Until now that is.
In fact, Team USA went 54-2 in exhibition games since 1992 and their last two meetings against Nigeria were a dominant 83 and 43-point wins. Nigeria, however, came prepared with seven NBA players on the roster and a longer time together than the opposition.
Nigeria was making multiple comebacks throughout the first three quarters but they were the ones with an upper hand in the final ten minutes. They were up 88-80 and although Team USA scored seven straight to bounce back, it was too late and Nigeria came out with a 90-87 win.
Coach Gregg Popovich takes this loss as a good thing, something to learn from and doesn’t want anyone to take it as the end of the world.
“In a way, I’m kind of glad it happened. It means nothing if we don’t learn from it. It could be the most important thing in this tournament for us. To learn lessons from this”, he said and added. “I don’t think anyone should act, nor will we act, like this is the end of the world. It’s about everyone else deserves a lot of credit, and we have to play our ass off to do this.”
A similar attitude came from the opposing coach Mike Brown who also works as a Golden State Warriors assistant. He didn’t make a huge deal since its a prep win but did recognize its value nonetheless.
“It was an exhibition and at the end of the day it doesn’t mean much in the standings. But it’s a good win for us. I don’t think any African team has been able to beat USA Basketball.”
Gabe Vincent shot 6-8 from the three-point territory on his way to 21 points for the winning side while Caleb Agada added 17 and Ike Nwamu 13 points.
A peculiar stat fact was the three-point shooting as Nigeria went 20-42, outshooting both in volume and percentage the US team that went 10-24 from deep and couldn’t find any rhythm.
Kevin Durant scored 17 in addition to Jayson Tatum’s 15 and Damian Lillard’s 14 points. None of them, however, made more than four shots from the field. And neither did the rest of the team.
Durant, Lillard, Bradley Beal, and Tatum all spent 25+ minutes on the court. Zach LaVine, Draymond Green, Bam Adebayo and Jerami Grant followed with around 20 minutes.