Nigeria shocked the United States 90-87 in a pre-Olympic basketball pleasant in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday.
Nigeria, with six NBA gamers and former NBA head coach Mike Brown on the helm, grew to become the primary African nation to beat the USA, who have been enjoying the primary of a 5 of tune-up video games earlier than the Tokyo Olympics.
The United States have been with out three gamers nonetheless energetic within the NBA Finals.
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant led the Americans with 17 factors.
Nigeria, which had 12 NBA gamers in its 49-man coaching camp in California and 7 in uniform on Saturday, was led by Gabe Vincent with 21 factors.
“I’m kind of glad it happened,” USA head coach Gregg Popovich stated, noting that the Nigerians have had the luxurious of coaching collectively since late June whereas the US facet had assembled simply 4 days earlier.
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Popovich stated the defeat needs to be seen as a studying expertise and never “the end of the world.”
Nigeria’s win got here 9 years after the United States crushed the Nigerians 156-73 on the London Olympics.
The United States, who’ve gained three Olympic males’s basketball titles since settling for bronze in 2004, want to regain international dominance after ending in seventh on the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
They play Australia, ranked third on the earth, in a pleasant on Monday.