Las Vegas Exhibition Games

[JGX]

The US games are on NBC Sports in the US, except for the USA-Nigeria women's game which is on Olympic Channel. The non-US games are on NBA TV.

July 10, 5 p.m. PDT USA Men vs Nigeria
July 10, 8:30 p.m. PDT Argentina Men vs Australia

July 12, 1:30 p.m. PDT Argentina Men vs Nigeria
July 12, 5 p.m. PDT USA Men vs Australia

July 13, 3 p.m. PDT USA Men vs Argentina
July 13, 6:30 p.m. PDT Australia Men vs Nigeria

July 16, 11:30 a.m. PDT USA Women vs Australia
July 16, 3:00 p.m. PDT USA Men vs Australia

July 18, 2:30 p.m. PDT USA Women vs Nigeria
July 18, 6:00 p.m. PDT USA Men vs Spain

[Dtown]

thanks for this, had no idea there was a game today!

So weird while the NBA Finals are still on.

[JGX]

US trailing Nigeria 66-64 after the third quarter, bringing back memories of 2004

Fran said 49 seconds into the game that it wouldn't take long for the US to became a strong defensive team...not convinced so far.

[Dtown]

Shocking but congrats to Nigeria! Hard to beat a team that hits 20+ threes in a 40 minute game. USA is probably hoping for a Suns sweep to get reinforcements.

[JGX]

Nigeria wins 90-87. Not quite Italy 2004 levels of embarrassing, but really bad. Mike Brown had his team ready to play.

I think the US just needs Durant to play like Durant and other guys can try to find roles around him.

[Dtown]

Nigeria wins 90-87. Not quite Italy 2004 levels of embarrassing, but really bad. Mike Brown had his team ready to play.

I think the US just needs Durant to play like Durant and other guys can try to find roles around him.

You could kind of see Durant recognize this in the last couple minutes, will be interesting the next couple games to see his mentality.

[reamily]

This isnt surprising in basketball sense guys who is athletically can keep in step with is and made 20 3s in a spread out system.. if us dont think egos( analytically) they think this as a good game

[reptilia]

So what are the rules for Nigerian players in regards to eligibility?
Most are USA born, they have Nigerian parents but not many of these guys obtained Nigerian passports before 16y.o.

This could open the floodgates and FIBA will be come Fifa with the naturalised rules.

[Federoy]

Thankfully, Covid-19 has taught me that it's okay to let things go. The US losing is not nearly was catastrophic for me as it use to be. As far as the game, it's more of the same structural problems with Team USA in terms of NBA basketball hurting our national team. The NBA has deviated so far away from system basketball that when our players are presented with a challenge on the international level, they revert to habits that are natural to the NBA game but are antithetical to FIBA basketball. But more concerning was the defense...it wasn't as if Nigeria was slicing this team up with backdoor cuts and interior passing. They were simply beating the US off the dribble or exploiting wide open outside shots; that's both an issue of effort (which can be fixed) and poor execution (which might not be fixable in the amount of time needed). Clearly this needs to be cleaned up before the real competition begins.

Lastly, Pop (and I said this back in 2019) isn't the right fit for this program. He's a HOF coach and understands the international game as good as anyone, but I almost get the sense that he's trying to turn a mustang into a show horse. It's almost hard to believe, but since he took the helm the US has not gone over 100 points...NOT ONCE. What made Coach K's teams successful is that he got out of the way on the offensive side (maybe threw in a few wrinkles here and there) and concentrated on defensive principles. I'm beginning to wonder if Pop is trying to introduce too many concepts at once and it's backfiring. I don't know. Just speculating, but something is amiss about Pop's tenure as the head coach.

[JGX]

It's almost hard to believe, but since he took the helm the US has not gone over 100 points...NOT ONCE. What made Coach K's teams successful is that he got out of the way on the offensive side (maybe threw in a few wrinkles here and there)

Yup. K had more talent at his disposal than Pop has had, but he still deserves a lot of credit for his teams' offensive production. Not that easy to get top players to play together in a way that doesn't turn them into ordinary players.

[DunkOnYa]

Wait a minute... Are they playing 2 international games in every game day? I'm understanding the schedule correctly?

[JGX]

Wait a minute... Are they playing 2 international games in every game day? I'm understanding the schedule correctly?

Yeah, two games per day. Vildoza just hit a halfcourt shot to give Argentina a 47-42 lead over Australia at halftime.

[JGX]

Mills hits a three at the buzzer to give Australia an 87-84 win over Argentina. Australia was down 11 in the third and up 11 in the fourth before Argentina rallied.

Is there any higher-percentage shot in international basketball then Luis Scola from anywhere in the final minute of a close game?

[Kings]

Day 1

Nigeria 90 USA 87
Australia 87 Argentina 84

[JGX]

Nigeria trouncing Argentina. One game from the exhibition gold medal.