By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The mighty Team USA men’s basketball squad just got one heck of a reality check.
After trailing by 10, 29-39 in the second quarter, the Nigerian men’s national team began to heat up and were unconscious from the three-point territory, burying 22 treys to outlast the US national team, 90-87, in the 2021 Olympics tune-up games.
Nigeria’s patient and stinging defense began to disrupt USA’s offensive flow in the middle of the second quarter that helped them close within striking distance, 41-43, heading into the second half.
Soon as the third quarter started, Nigeria’s head coach Mike Brown began to treat the game with a sense of urgency and went to his patent defensive schemes.
The tremendous defense put up by the Nigerians helped them outscore the Americans, 25-21, in the third quarter to eventually lead the game, 66-64, heading into the final quarter.
Gabe Vincent from the Miami Heat continued his scoring spree in the fourth and sank timely baskets to prevent USA from building another huge scoring run.
USA’s head coach Gregg Popovich summoned his reliable five: Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Draymond Green, Bradley Beal, and Jayson Tatum as they tried to play catch-up in the last four minutes of the ball game but weren’t able to weather the storm and lose their first exhibition match of the Olympics.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian men’s team had 13 NBA players in their roster and were led by Vincent of the Miami Heat, Josh Okogie of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Chimezie Metu of the Sacramento Kings, Wes Iwundu of the New Orleans Pelicans, and Jahlil Okafor of the Detroit Pistons.
