Australia Thrash Nigeria in Olympics Warm Up
Australia followed up their impressive exhibition win against Team USA with another strong display in Las Vegas against Nigeria.
D’Tigers recorded an impressive 90-87 win over the Americans recently, so were heading into this one full of confidence. However, it was the understrength Aussies that made light work of their opponents in a convincing 108-69 win.
Team USA remain overwhelming favourites to take Gold once the Tokyo Olympics begin at the end of July, but Australia have done themselves no harm in the build-up after strong performances.
As current third favourites behind Spain, and USA, head coach Brian Goorjian knows his side have a great chance of a medal in Tokyo. If you want to back the Boomers, or ranked outsiders Nigeria for that matter, consider the best Australian betting site such as bet365 or Unibet as they will often supply the most competitive odds. The betting suggests it could be USA, Spain and Australia on the podium, but in what order?
Australia decided to give some of their key players a rest against Nigeria, and it showed what strength in depth they have after the youngsters performed extremely well. It may have also been a case of keeping Nigeria guessing ahead of the Olympics as they will play each other again in the group stages.
D’Tigers were the kings of the rebounds in their matches with USA and Argentina in recent days, but they were outplayed in every aspect on Tuesday. Coach Mike Brown was surprised by how good the opposition was, and expected a little more from his side:
“For us tonight, we thought we were going to be able walk in here and take it to these guys,” Brown told the press in an interview after the match. “But these guys can play.”
After the Boomers created a lead of 20 points by half-time, Nigeria were hoping to come out of the blocks quickly in the third quarter. Unfortunately for them, Exum and Landale sunk back-to-back three pointers to give Australia a 26-point advantage. They never stood a chance after that.
The oldest Aussie on the court, Chris Goulding, scored an impressive 21 points and everything he did came off. The side just couldn’t miss, with a mammoth 18 threes converted from only 29 attempts.
The Nigerians tried to get back into the game, but a combination of poor shots and great defence meant that they succumbed to a 39-point defeat.
“It’s not right now about winning games; that’s down the road,” Australia coach Brian Goorjian said post-game. “It’s about learning and getting better.”
“And since the second half of the USA game, I just think the team’s starting to understand what we need to do and how we need to play to win.”
Josh Green, who finished the game with three steals and 11 points, told reporters after the victory that the side were intent on playing to the best of their ability at all times.
“Our goal going into it was just to compete at the highest level, make our main focus the defence and let the offence come from the defence,” he said.
When you look through the Australian squad, you have top players plying their trade in the NBA at teams such as the Raptors, Rockets, Mavericks, Jazz, Spurs. The list goes on. It would be no surprise to see them shock the world at Tokyo 2020.
But it’s worth bearing in mind that the Boomers have never won an Olympic basketball medal. Not even in Sydney. Team USA have the experience behind them, and having won Gold at the last three Olympics, they won’t be letting go of their crown easily.
Exhibitions are a great way to get an early feel of each team, but it’s never really a gauge on how they’ll perform when the stakes are high. Spain won Bronze in Rio – could they go two better and upset the odds? Or will Team USA or Australia prevail? Let’s not forget Nigeria too. There’s usually a shock somewhere down the line, right?
