Australia is not only the favorite to win Group B of the men’s basketball tournament in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but also among the teams expected to medal. The Boomers’ first assignment would be a game against dangerous Nigeria. Check out our preview of this game below.
The Boomers mean business. The world should have picked on that message when the Australians defeated Team USA in an exhibition match in Vegas. Moreover, Australia has been ranked ahead of Team USA, Spain, and the rest of the world by FIBA’s official website’s power rankings. This is a team that’s littered with elite talents. Patty Mills is perhaps the most familiar with basketball fans, while other NBA players on the team include Aron Baynes, Dante Exum, Josh Green, Joe Ingles, and Matisse Thybulle. Australia shouldn’t have a problem scoring and defending against Nigeria. After all, they have already shown that in their 108-69 thumping of Nigeria in Vegas despite Mills, Ingles, Baynes, and Matthew Dellavedova not playing. Instead, it was Chris Goulding and Duop Reath who led the Boomers with 21 and 17 points, respectively. Goulding was smoking hot in that game, as he went 7 of 7 from behind the arc.
Nigeria is set to appear in its third consecutive Olympics and the team it’s sending to Japan is arguably the nation’s strongest all-time. That’s certainly reinforced by Nigeria’s massive upset of the Americans in Vegas, beating Kevin Durant and company to the tune of a 90-87 score. Nigeria’s outside shooting was too much for Team USA. Gabe Vincent finished with 21 points on the strength of a 6/8 shooting from deep. As a team, Nigeria connected on 20 of 42 attempts from behind the arc. However, the Nigerians went just 8/31 on 3-pointers in the aforementioned loss to Australia. Nevertheless, Nigeria is confident in the talent it has on the team. Among the NBA players on the roster are Precious Achiuwa, and KZ Okpala of the Miami Heat, Miye Oni of the Utah Jazz, Josh Okogie of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Jordan Nwora of the Milwaukee Bucks. Also on the team is Jahlil Okafor of the Detroit Pistons.
