Jahlil Okafor on Monday scored a game-high 15 points, Precious Achiuwa added 12 points and Nigeria defeated Argentina 94-71 during exhibition play from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Achiuwa hauled in seven rebounds and dished out three assists in 13 minutes of work while shooting 5-of-7 from the field. He also added one 3-pointer as Nigeria dominated throughout the contest, leading by as many as 24 points in the second half.
The victory saw Achiuwa score in a variety of ways, from working in the post to stepping out and knocking it down from deep. On one possession, Achiuwa even did it himself and went coast to coast for the finish in transition.
All @PreciousAchiuwa đź’Ş pic.twitter.com/VUPCWidhDI
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) July 12, 2021
Achiuwa has emerged as a key player for Nigeria after he was named to their preliminary Olympic roster. Nigerian head coach Mike Brown said Achiuwa is extremely important to their success as the first-year center of the Miami Heat looks to be a lock to make the final roster.
He offers the team a strong presence inside and often does the dirty work on the court, something that Brown said was similar to how Draymond Green plays. Despite not being known as a shooter, he has given his country some outside shooting through two games.
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Nigeria improved to 2-0 during its exhibition slate after stunning the United States on Saturday. The Americans were favored by 28.5 points in that contest and had gone 39-0 over its last three Olympic runs, including exhibition games.
The Nigerian roster features eight active NBA players as they appear to be gelling well to begin their run to the Olympics. They will wrap up exhibition play on Tuesday versus Australia, a team they will see in the Olympics from Group B.
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