Incredible upset in Las Vegas: Nigeria stuns Team USA in Olympic exhibition / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: AP-Scanpix Credit AP-Scanpix

Nigeria pulled off one of the greatest upsets in international basketball history Saturday night by stunning Team USA in an Olympic exhibition game in Las Vegas.

The Americans lost 87-90 (23-22, 20-19, 21-25, 23-24) to the Nigeria team, which is coached by Mike Brown. It was Team USA's first-ever loss to an African nation and third one overall in exhibition games since 1992. Team USA defeated Nigeria 156-73 in August 2012 at the London Olympics.

“I thought that Nigeria played very physically,” coachPopovich said after the game. “They did a great job in that regard and knocked a lot of threes. Give them credit.”

The Nigerian side defeated a Team USA starting five of Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant, and Bam Adebayo.

With 3:38 to go, the game was still close, and Nigeria got a 1 point lead (75-74). However, Miye Oni knocked a 3-pointer, Ike Iroegbu made his free throws and added another 3-point, and Nigeria made an impressive 10-3 run after the visitors increased their advantage to 8 points (85-77).

Just before the last minute of the game, Kevin Durant began his solo show. The Brooklyn Nets forward made a 3-pointer and knocked four three throws in a row, and with 16.5 seconds to go, Team USA trailed only by a point (87-88).

On the other side of the court, Gabe Vincent made his free throws, and as time has shown, it was the last points of the game.

Team USA got 13.2 seconds for their final attack, and Gregg Popovich took a timeout, but the hosts didn’t manage to take a shot, and Zach LaVine missed both free throws, leaving the Americans without an opportunity to comeback.

After the game, Popovich admitted that this loss could have its positives.

“With four days of practice, there was a lot of things I liked out there,” told Popovich. “In a way, I’m kinda glad it happened. That loss means nothing if we don’t learn from it, but it can be the most important thing in this tournament for us to learn lessons from this and see what we did.”

“It’s a great group of guys, and we’ll figure it out. I don’t anyone should act like it’s the end of the world. It’s about everybody else deserves a lot of credit, and we have to play our ass off (to win)”, said Popovich.

Vincent scored 21 points (0/1 2PT, 6/8 3PT, 3/4 FT), got 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, and finished a game without a single turnover for Nigeria.

Caleb Agada added 17 points (4/7 2PT, 3/3 3PT), 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Nigerians made 20 3-pointers out of 42 (48%). In comparison, team USA got 10 3-pointers out of 24 tries (42%).

For Team USA, Durant finished with 17 points (2/8 2PT, 2/5 3PT, 7/8 FT), 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 turnover.

Jayson Tatum added 15 points (2/4 2PT, 2/3 3PT, 5/5 FT), 7 rebounds, and 2 turnovers.

Despite the loss, Popovich found some positive things after the game.

“I think that more than anything, we took care of the ball pretty good,” told Popovich. “I think we had 7 turnovers. I’m actually surprised by that because their pressure was great all night long, for the whole 40 minutes. I thought that was good.”

“We kept supporting each other even if the things weren’t going well. Everybody expects us to win every game, and that puts some pressure on you. For a new group in a tough circumstance, I thought they done a great job”, added Popovich.

Team USA: Kevin Durant 17 (2/8 2PT, 2/5 3PT), Jayson Tatum 15 (7 REB), Damian Lillard 14 (3/6 3PT), Bam Adebayo 11 (4/7 2PT), Zach LaVine 10, Draymond Green 10.

Nigeria: Gabe Vincent 21 (6/8 3PT), Caleb Agada 17 (4/6 2PT, 3/3 3PT), Ike Nwamu 13 (3/6 3PT, 7 REB), Ike Iroegbu 11.

Highlights:

--Field Level Media

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