Team USA wins easily over Nigeria
U.S.A. 156 vs NIGERIA 73
That USA-Nigeria game felt like watching a really long game of NBA Jam, and every single US player was on fire. There’s really not much to analyze in the game, it was an absolute destruction. Team USA won by 83 points. Yeah, you read that right. 83 frickin points! The 156 points they put up is an all-time Olympic record.
For those of you who didn’t get to watch the game, this type of performance was set up by a barrage of three pointers. The US scored 49 points in the first period (10 minute quarter, by the way). They might as well have played 5 on 0 because Nigeria waived the white flag a few minutes into the game. Craziest stat of the night? U.S.A. went 29 for 46 behind the arc.
“Our guys just couldn’t miss,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said.
Carmelo Anthony scored 37 points, making 10 of 12 3-pointers, and even ran down the court at one point doing the “Jordan shrug“. Okay, let me choose a new stat for the craziest of the night- Melo did all that in just 14 minutes of play. He earned all the chocolate milk he wants with this performance.
Here are a few records that were set during the game- Anthony with the U.S. Olympic mark for points in a game; the U.S. set the Olympic record for points in a game and points in a half (78); most 3-pointers made by the Americans (26), field goals (59) and field-goal percentage (71%). They also tied the Olympic record for most assists in a game by a team with 41.
”When we get hot, it’s a big problem,” Kobe Bryant said. ”So you have all these guys on one team and then all get hot on the same night, it’s tough.”
The biggest margin of victory the 92 Dream Team ever had was by 68 points over Angola. After 3 games, 1992 Dream Team average point differential: +48.0. 2012 Team USA? +52.3. Today’s margin of victory obviously means the 2012 team is better than the 1992 one, right? We’ll let you draw your own conclusions on that one.
Well done gentleman, it was quite the beat-down. *Round of Applause* The US team will face Lithuania in their next game on Saturday.
