D\u2019Tigers Head Coach, Ayo Bakare, on Friday said that Nigeria\u2019s major priority had always not been about beating the U.S to advance to 2012 Olympic Games men’s basketball quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
Bakare told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in London that his team’s real challenge would rather be beating the duo of Argentina and France.<\/p>\n
The \u00a0Nigerian side lost 73-156 to the U.S Dream Team on Thursday night at the Basketball Arena in a Preliminary Round Group A match.<\/p>\n
The loss meant Nigeria must now win at least one game and avoid another heavy defeat to be sure of a place in the last eight on Aug. 8.<\/p>\n
It was D\u2019Tigers second consecutive loss in the six-team group after the 60-56 opening match win against Tunisia on July 29.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying against the U.S was just a test for us, a barometer to launch ourselves onto the world basketball stage, and not necessarily about beating them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did know it was going to be difficult against them, and we never expected much.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we did know that the real games for us are against Argentina on Saturday and France on Monday,\u201d the coach said.<\/p>\n
He said a win against the U.S by his team would have only created some surprises.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would still have needed to win those two games. Now that it is as it is, we have to win the matches against Argentina and France.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I believe we can and we still have a chance to be in the quarter-finals,\u201d Bakare said.<\/p>\n
Looking back at the game against the U.S, the coach said his players had wanted to use it as a launching pad against Argentina on Saturday, and that it was unfortunate it turned out bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very tough game, and I am still stunned at the fact that the U.S used us to create so many records. Our egos have been badly bruised.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, we also have the dubious record of being part of history where the heaviest score line in a game at the Olympics was recorded.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut our players had wanted to use it as a launching pad for the clash with Argentina which is a must-win for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we must find a way of motivating the players back into being inspired to do what we all know they can do on Saturday,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Bakare however regretted that there were no positives but lessons to draw from the match against the U.S which saw the point\u2019s record falling.<\/p>\n
This was when Andre Iguodala hit a three-point shot with four minutes 27 seconds left in the game to make it 139-68 for the U.S.<\/p>\n
This had helped the U.S to surpass the previous record of 138 scored by Brazil against Egypt at the Olympic Games of 1988 in Seoul, South Korea.<\/p>\n
The Americans had also scored 78 points in the first half alone, beating the previous Olympic record of 72 which was set also by Brazil against China in the same 1988 Games.<\/p>\n
Also, U.S forward, Carmelo Anthony, also created record by having 37 points, breaking Stephon Marbury’s record of 31 for an American player in an Olympic Games match.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, their winning margin of 83 points beat their previous best of 72 against Thailand, when they won 101-29 in 1956.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can be no positives to draw from a game we lost with more than 80 points.<\/p>\n
\u201cRather, we will take the lessons learnt. It is really tough to get some positives. But we did learn some hard lessons,\u201d Bakare said.<\/p>\n
NAN reports that the D\u2019Tigers will take on Argentina in their fourth Group A game on Saturday at 22.15 hours, and France in their final Preliminary Round match on Monday at 14.30 hours.<\/p>\n
After having lost their second match 53-72 to Lithuania, the D\u2019Tigers are now walking a tight rope in the race for the quarter-finals. (NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
D\u2019Tigers Head Coach, Ayo Bakare, on Friday said that Nigeria\u2019s major priority had always not been about beating the U.S to advance to 2012 Olympic Games men’s basketball quarter-finals. Bakare…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n