Team USA ended their pre-Olympic tourney the same way they started: with pure dominance as the Americans destroyed Nigeria’s senior basketball team D’Tigers 110-66 Monday night, with America’s Carmelo Anthony leading the way with 19 points.
In their final exhibition game before heading to Rio for the 2016 Olympic Games, Anthony led the U.S. in scoring with 19 points in just 19 minutes, despite missing all six of his 3-point attempts.
The last time he faced Nigeria, Anthony set the U.S. single-game scoring record at the 2012 London Olympics by draining 10-of-12 3s in a 156-73 win. “I set the bar too high,” Anthony said with a smile.
Nigeria went just 4-for-29 on 3-pointers, while committing 20 turnovers. “Obviously, they’re the No. 1 team in the world for a reason,” Nigeria coach Will Voigt said. “For us to shoot the percentage that we did from 3, and obviously, their defense is a big part of that, because they’re so good in transition, all of those misses led to big opportunities for them. They kind of fed off of that.”
The U.S. outscored Nigeria 22-7 in fast-break points and shot a blistering 53.9% from the field, including 13-for-33 from beyond the arc. Both Jimmy Butler and DeMar DeRozan had four steals, and Kyle Lowry led the team with 11 assists, including two bold alley-oops to DeRozan and DeAndre Jordan. “He’s a high-flyer, and he’s a guy who they say, ‘Just throw it up to him from anywhere,’ so that’s what I’m doing,” Lowry said, referring to the 50-foot pass thrown to Jordan from several feet behind the half-court line.
