Tokyo 2020 - Nigeria stun the USA to as defending gold medallists suffer first ever defeat to African team
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Updated 12/07/2021 at 19:12 GMT
Three-time defending champions the USA had defeated Nigeria by 83 points at London 2012, and include a combined 37 All Star appearances in their 12-man roster for Tokyo, though have had limited preparation time together ahead of the Olympics due to the NBA play-offs. Gabe Nnamdi of the Miami Heat led all scorers with 21 points to help Nigeria to one of the great sporting shocks.
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Nigeria produced a stunning upset of Tokyo 2020 basketball gold medal favourites the United States of America in Las Vegas.
In a major blow to the three-time defending Olympic champions’ preparations for Tokyo, the USA were defeated 90-87 - the first time the USA men’s team have ever lost to an African nation.
Precious Achiuwa secured the crucial rebound as time expired after Zach LaVine had intentionally missed the second of two free-throws in an attempt to allow a teammate the opportunity at a three-point shot to tie the game.
"I thought that the Nigerian team played very physically,” said USA Head Coach Gregg Popovich. [They] did a great job in that regard and knocked down a lot of 3s. Give them credit."
"In a way I'm kind of glad it happened," continued Popovich. "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."
The United States’ 12-man roster for the Olympics has a combined 37 NBA All-Star selections, and are coached by Gregg Popovich, five times an NBA champion as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
Nigeria’s roster features six current NBA players, with Gabe Nnamdi of the Miami Heat leading all scorers with 21 points at the Michelob Ultra Arena.
“We just wanted to compete,” said Nnamdi, who is known as Gabe Vincent when playing for the Heat.
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Two-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant scored 17 points for the USA, while Jayson Tatum added 15 points and collected seven rebounds.
Durant had never previously been defeated while playing for his national team in 39 previous appearances.
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Tatum echoed his coach in taking the positives from the defeat and blamed a lack of chemistry for the shock defeat: "None of us have ever played with each other, we're just trying to figure it out. We don't have three to four weeks. This is good for us; we'll learn a lot from the film and we'll regroup."
Nigeria’s history-makers will next target progress from Group B at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, having been drawn alongside Germany, Australia and Italy. No African side has ever made the quarter-finals at the Olympics in men’s basketball.
The USA have four more exhibition games scheduled over the next week, all taking place in Las Vegas. They meet Australia tonight, and will begin their Olympic campaign against potential medallists France on 25 July.
The shock defeat hints at further vulnerability in an American side that finished seventh at the last Fiba World Cup, having been knocked out of the quarter-finals two years ago in China by the French.
Popovich’s roster will be bolstered by the availability of Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton after the conclusion of the NBA Finals.
41 points from Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo helped Holiday and Middleton’s Milwaukee Bucks take a 2-1 series lead over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night. Should the series extend the distance to seven games, the trio will not be available to Popovich until after Thursday 22 July – just three days before their scheduled tournament opener.
Saddiq Bey, Darius Garland, John Jenkins, Keldon Johnson, Josh Magette, Dakota Mathias and Cam Reynolds are currently part of the USA selection available for the exhibition fixtures in Las Vegas, but have not been named as part of the 12-man squad for Tokyo.
Among the other favourites for medals will be Serbia, silver medallists in Rio de Janeiro, Australia and Spain, who capitalised on the USA’s early exit to take victory at the 2019 Fiba World Cup.
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