The United States men’s basketball team played its first exhibition game against Nigeria on Saturday — and Team USA suffered a shocking upset. It went down to the wire, but Nigeria stood tall, winning 90-87. Nigeria was led by Gabe Vincent, who had a game-high 21 points. For Team USA, Nets star Kevin Durant led the way with 17 points and 5 rebounds. Celtics star Jayson Tatum scored 15 points.
The United States is set to play France in its first official game for the Olympics on July 25. The European powerhouse is bound to cause all sorts of problems for Team USA, posing a far more serious challenge than Nigeria. With that said, should the U.S be concerned about heading to Tokyo following this loss?
Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich chose to start Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, Tatum, Durant and Bam Adebayo against Nigeria. Lillard and Adebayo finished with a plus-minus of minus-11. Durant was not too far off with a plus-minus of minus-10. Beal and Tatum were the only starters with a positive plus-minus.
If these are the five starters moving forward, they should get used to this pressure. The close games will come down to these five. Yes, there should be concerns about their performance against Nigeria due to their standards. However, this is nothing to be concerned about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fu6Kf_DfIU
Saturday’s exhibition did not come close to the intensity of an Olympic game. It looked more like an experiment for the Team USA coaches to test different rotations. More importantly, the squad is still without Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday.
When this team is at full strength and they’re playing with a high intensity, it will be a different outcome — especially on the offensive end. Eighty-seven points is not typical of any Team USA roster. It’s only a matter of time until we see America at full strength. No need to overreact.
[vertical-gallery id=21863]
[mm-video type=video id=01f9g422zd456mp31thh playlist_id=01f09kz5ecxq9bp57b player_id=01eqbvq570kgj8vfs7 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f9g422zd456mp31thh/01f9g422zd456mp31thh-4bbeed2ec3c9f57ddb6d8fe266b10ba6.jpg]