We Saw American Wonder, D’Tigers Confess

Nigeria’s D’Tigers say they experienced wonders in last night’s Olympic Basketball Group A match against America, where they suffered the worst defeat in the history of the Games.

The Americans, who were mainly millionaire players from the prestigious NBA, knocked off D’Tigers 156-73 in the highest scoring basketball game in Olympic history. Nigeria set the record for conceding more than 100 per cent of the points scored by a team. It was a game in which Olympic scoring records were broken across the board.

“The mindset was we wanted to win the game, but we ended up beating hands down,’’ said Nigerian centre, Ike Diogu with a slightly embarrassed smile.

Whatever happened, the Nigerians had run into a perfect storm. Resistance was futile. “It was like open gym out there for them,” Nigeria’s Tony Skinn said with a sigh to Yahoo Sports.

It was uneven, unpleasant and a reminder of the gap between the United States and most of the world when the Americans are resolved and relentless. The superstars kept coming in waves upon waves on Nigeria, whose players became more spectators than participants in the devastating defeat. The United States had 49 points after a quarter, 78 at halftime, and Nigeria let themselves become innocent bystanders.

“On the one side, it’s terrible to get whipped like that,” Nigeria’s Koko Archibong said. “But on the other side, it was something impressive to be a part of – impressive to witness in person.”

The only Nigerian putting up a meaningful fight was Diogu, a former NBA first-round pick who showed leadership and a stubborn post game by scoring 15 points in the first half on his way to 27 overall (11 of 17).

“It all just depends on your mindset coming into the game,’’ Diogu said when asked if any team could beat the U.S. “You’ve got to be really focused. You’ve got to play mistake-free basketball. But when they shoot like this, I don’t know if there is any team that can beat them.’’

The Nigerian coach, Ayo Bakare, had a pleasant way of deflecting his team’s embarrassment.

In painful detail he listed the mistakes his players had made in terms of ball movement, getting back in transition and defensive rotations before at long last ending the statement by saying: “Other than that, I think we could have won the game.’’ Then he laughed along with his audience of reporters.

The USA set team records for three-pointers made (29) and attempted (46). The Americans made 11 of 14 threes and scored 49 points in the first quarter, a 10-minute quarter, too.

“Obviously, we shot better than any team in a game that I’ve ever coached,” U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Our guys couldn’t miss tonight. They shared the ball. When you hit 29 threes, it’s very difficult to lose in a game like that. Just an incredible shooting performance. That’s not going to happen very often.”