By Kehinde Okeowo
If you think Nigeria’s senior men basketball team win over their United States counterpart, popularly known as The Dream Team was a fluke, you might need to think again, as the shocking defeat of the Americans in an exhibition match played in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics games might be just a pointer to the true test of their strength.
The seemingly invincible United States team which paraded superstars like Kelvin Durant who plays in the National Basketball Association for the Brooklyn Nets were defeated 90-87 by the less fancied Nigerian team, D’Tigers, who are expected to face Australia, Italy and Germany in Group B of the Olympic Basketball completion.
The Nigerian team continued their impressive winning streak when they convincingly defeated another basketball heavyweight, Argentina, who is currently ranked fourth in the world in another exhibition match played in Michelob ULTRA Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.
The highly physical encounter which ended 94-71 in favour of the African champion, saw D’Tigers trail their more illustrious Argentinian opposition 19-17 in the first quarter of the highly entertaining game.
The dynamics of the game changed in the second quarter as D’Tigers upped their game to lead the second quarter with 26-14 points. Having gone behind, the Argentines tried to rally back but Nigerians maintained a 43-33 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Nigerian team continued their dominance by winning the third quarter despite the resistance of the more fancied Argentines to win the round 31-22 points, thereby ending the quarter on a total of 74-55 points.
The final quarter followed the usual pattern but the Argentines were more competitive, the Nigerian side however won the final round with 4 points having scored 20 points in comparison to their counterparts 16 points. The game ended with the final score standing at 94-71 in favor of the Nigerian team.
Jahlil Okafor led Nigeria with 15 points while Josh Okogie and Chimezie Metu had 10 points each. Nigeria limited Argentina to 35.9 per cent shooting from the floor while hitting 48.1 per cent of its own shots. D’Tigers didn’t make an insane amount of triples this time around, but did well enough in other areas to win in a rout.
The form of the Nigerian team in the exhibition games, must be a source of worry and rude awakening for other teams, who might have thought that the African champion came to the competition to make the numbers. Nigerians all over the world, will also be encouraged and more expectant as their team participates in this year’s Olympic Games.
Additional reports from Draftking Nation
