D’Tigers Falls to Team USA in Last Warm-up Match

Keno Edhowo with agency report
Nigeria’s senior male basketball team, D’Tigers lost 110-66 to Team USA who are gold medal favourites at this year’s Olympic Games in Brazil.

In the pre-Rio 2016 exhibition game on Monday night at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas,
Carmelo Anthony led the way with 19 points, Klay Thompson scored 17, Kevin Durant 14, DeMar DeRozan 13 and DeAndre Jordan and DeMarcus Cousins 10 each.

NBA.com reported yesterday that the victory enabled Team USA to complete their Olympic warm-up tour with a 5-0 record, beating Argentina, China (twice), Venezuela and Nigeria by an average margin of 43 points.

It was the first time the two teams played since August 2, 2012 when the Americans won by a whopping 156-73 as Carmelo Anthony set a team record with 37 points in 14 ½ minutes, shooting 10-for-12 on 3-pointers.

Earlier, there were a few moments to treasure in D’Tigers’ performance. The first came when 6-foot-4 guard Benjamin Uzoh drove through the lane and threw down a one-handed slam dunk over 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan with 4:38 left in the first quarter that cut the U.S. lead to 11-10 and brought a collective gasp from the sellout crowd.

The win raised Mike Krzyzewski’s record as head coach with Team USA to 80-1 and was the 68th in a row (including exhibition games) for the Americans since 2006. The U.S. will take a 17-game Olympic winning streak into Rio de Janeiro.

Team USA will open their Olympic schedule Saturday against China, while D’Tigers begin their campaign against Argentina on Monday morning.
The Nigerian stars will then face Croatia on Thursday night before games against Spain, Brazil and Lithuania.