New Telegraph

Revenge on the cards as D’Tigers begin quest for historic Olympic meda

Nigeria’s men’s national basketball team, D’Tigers, will on Sunday 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 topranked 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 Sunday’s clash.

 

So anyone expecting the Austra-lians, who on paper are superior, to repeat their blowout of the Nigerians on Sunday 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.

 

D’Tigers may not be as experienced as the Boomers but they can also now call on the services of Milwaukee Bucks shooting guard Jordan Nwora, who was unavailable in Las Vegas owing to his involvement in the NBA Finals. It may not be that easy though for D’Tigers, as the Boomers are one of the favourites to land a medal in Japan, and will want to make a strong start against Nigeria, a team they have gotten the better of in their last two matches.

 

Win or lose, both Australia and Nigeria are favourites to secure the two automatic tickets to the quarterfinals, ahead of Germany and Italy, who will be hoping to secure one of the two spots reserved for the best third-placed teams in the three-group men’s basketball event.

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