Nigeria’s men’s national basketball team, D’Tigers, will this morning, at the Saitama Super Arena, begin their quest for Olympic honours with their sights set on avenging their earlier defeat to the Australians.
The Group B game against the Aussies comes almost two weeks after both sides met in a pre-Olympic Games exhibition match in Las Vegas, in the United States; a game in which the Aussies defeated the Nigerians 108-69.
D’Tigers, in that 39-point loss to the Boomers, were a far cry from the team that had beaten the top-ranked United States and Argentina a few days earlier in Las Vegas, but there were suggestions that Mike Brown’s side took their feet off the pedal against the Aussies, possibly with an eye on today’s clash.
So anyone expecting the Australians, who on paper are superior, to repeat their blowout of the Nigerians today in Saitama could be in for a rude awakening.
For a start, D’Tigers have since that loss had more days to train as a unit and will be a much better side than they were when they played against an Australian team that had spent longer time together.
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