It was not the best of starts for D’Tigers as they lost to Australia in their Group B opening game on Sunday, in the basketball event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Completesports.com reports.
After a closely fought encounter in the early quarters, D’Tigers eventually lost edged it 84-67.
After a slow from D’Tigers, they had a stronger finish in the first quarter which ended 23-23.
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Both teams continued from where they stopped but at the end of the second quarter, it was Australia who edged it 20-17.
While the Aussies kept their lead and also took the third quarter by 15-12 points heading into the fourth which they also took 26-15 for a total score of 84-67 points win.
D’Tigers will hope to bounce back from the defeat when they face Germany in their second game.
Meanwhile, the group’s other game saw Italy defeat Germany by 92-82.
By James Agberebi
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COMMENTS
Great performance by the Tigers. Irrespective of this loss, truly made me proud.
Yes, it was a great performance, however we ought to have win that game if our boys were more precise in free throws, I counted like 18 points we lost in free throws, while the aussie has about 92% success rate in their own free throws, we really need to work on that in our subsequent matches.
There is nothing special about the aussie, because they really sweat for the victory, however our boys need to work on their fitness level, they tired out in the 3rd quarter.
Kudos to the boys
@ Ola, I agree with you on the unfortunate lost free throws. It only goes to show the thin line that separates. It gives great hope of an emerging basketball powerhouse that is Nigeria. Hopefully we work on those lapses and come back stronger for our next game. But still must not stop us from congratulating these worthy ambassadors. I am truly proud of them.
The Aussies are in the top 3 in the world. They beat USA also in their Olympic prep game, just after we beat them. So this result was always a possibility.
Our guys tried. What disappoints me is the way they collapsed in the 4th quarter. They came in behind by 6 points, and the quarter ended with the Aussies extending their lead by an additional 13 points. Not cool.
We should be able to take care of Italy and Germany in our next two games. That is if we play like we played against USA. Going forward however, the 4th quarter collapse must not happen again if the team is to go far in this tournament.
We lost 50% of our free throws, our boys need to be more accurate in that area, the aussies, I love that Jordan nwosa guy and the sending off of Metu kinda affect the lads. A good game over all and we shd able to take down Germany and Italy.
The Aussies were never part of the permutations anyway. Kiddos boys. Work on your lapses.
Good game, free throws cost us a lot of points, and the Aussies had height advantage in my point of view, they won almost all rebounds which they made good use of. First quarter was excellent but as the game wears on I think they lost focus mentally when the Aussies had a 11 point lead and that didn’t help