Follow the live coverage of the all important basketball match Between the D'Tigers and The Host Brazil.

Playing against the host Nation is always difficult, but God will see them through

Nigeria scores the first points through Aminu

Nice one

Nigeria is killing it 13-8 good one lads,legs give it a try

For the Bball fans, here's an article I wrote on Sportsafrica.net about the Nigerian team prior to the game today

http://sportsafrica.net/nigerias-dtigers-giving-it-their-all-in-rio/

African champions overcoming obstacles.



Winning the 2015 Afrobasket lifted a weight off of Nigerian Basketball that had been there for 53 years as Angola dominated Basketball on the continent. While Angola dominated the continent, Nigeria exported NBA stars like Hakeem Olajuwon and had other players of Nigerian heritage such as Emeka Okafor and Andre Iguodala develop into solid NBA players.

Next up for Nigeria is making a dent in Basketball on the world stage, either in the Basketball World Cup or the Olympics. The mission in Rio prior to the start of the Olympics was to do just that but the exclusion of forward Al-Farouq Aminu and center Festus Ezeli(both of the Portland Trailblazers) due to either issues with the federation or insurance issues depending on various reports, set the Nigerian team back. Add in the decision by Oklahoma Thunder shooting guard Victor Oladipo to reject the call to join the Nigerian team and instead accept the offer from the USA to join its select team(the team which scrimmages the actual USA Basketball national team) and things looked dire prior to the tip-off of the first group game in Brazil.

Coach Will Voigt said prior to the start of the tournament about the body blows being dealt to his team, “We’ve already been down that road, we lost Ike to injury right before the start of Afrobasket and went on to win the tournament for the first time ever. This is a resilient group and they always kinda rise to the occasion so I’m sure somebody will step up to fill that void.”

The group Nigeria is in features 2004 gold medalists Argentina, 2012 silver medalists Spain, the always talented Lithuania and Croatia teams as well as host nation Brazil. Point guard Ben Uzoh said about the group “I think it’s a great test, just understanding when it comes to accomplishments you don’t wanna run from competition so I like the fact that our pool is pretty strong. (We need to) capitalize on what other teams are trying to do. Rest is key, rest and recovery, staying together and being locked in as a unit.” Voigt added “I mean obviously on paper it’s the tougher of the two groups but in the Olympics there’s no easy out so I mean our guys have shown that they can rise to the challenge and we’re hoping to do so again.”

With the group games being held every other day, the possibility of fatigue might play a role in the group games as well as in the quarterfinals and a less fancied team may get through. President of the Nigerian Basketball Federation Mr. Tijani Umar said “I think it’s really (about having) a bit of luck. If we had been in group A the chances of going to the quarter-finals would have been better.” He added “Who knows, people dig deep and when they are pushed to the wall and have nowhere else to go they come back fighting and I think this team is going to fight. You never know the character of a team until you try it. This test that this team is being put through will give it the chance to show the nature it’s made of. I think this team is going to play good Basketball.”

The 1st game was a 94-66 loss to Argentina but more bad news hit the team after the game. Center Seni (Shane) Lawal tore his patella tendon in the game and had to have surgery immediately. Now missing another center after Ezeli’s absence and Lawal’s injury, in a group featuring two of the NBA’s top big men in Pau Gasol of Spain and Jonas Valanciunas of Lithuania, Nigeria would need to play smart and play with energy from start to finish just to stay in the rest of the group games. In the next game vs Lithuania, Nigeria held their own and had a halftime lead of 41-36 before losing 89-80 after a low scoring third quarter.

Spain were up next and Nigeria showed their mettle vs the Spaniards as D’Tigers ended the first half down only two points but eventually lost the game 96-87. Guard Josh Akognon noted “The Spain game we were very locked in and focused on who they were as players as well as what they like and don’t like which is ball pressure and confidence. That is what carried us through that game but we fell short on a few plays and against these teams they are too good to let that happen”

Despite 24 points on 7 – 12 shooting from outside the arc for guard Chamberlain Oguchi, Nigeria couldn’t get enough scoring in the fourth quarter and gave up 31 points in the quarter to Spain. The most points they’d given up in a quarter in the first three games of the tournament. After the game, Oguchi said “Both teams were very deserving of winning the game but Spain did some better things than us down the stretch. We’ll learn from it and I think we’re very capable (of winning the next two games).”

On Saturday night in Rio, it all came together for the Nigerian team as they faced Croatia. Despite the presence of Brooklyn Nets forward Bogdan Bogdanovic, Orlando Magic shooting guard Mario Hezonja and future Philadelphia 76er Dario Saric, Nigeria came out with an intensity the Croats didn’t expect and took a 43-39 lead out of the first half. Holding onto the lead in the second half would be a task for this Nigeria team after dropping leads in the 3rd and 4th quarter of two of the three prior games they played. Add in that most would expect the battle tested and talented Croatian team to overwhelm the undermanned Nigerian side. D’tigers had other plans though as guards Josh Akognon and Mike Umeh helped add to the lead and the play of young 2016 Detroit Pistons draft pick Mike Gbinije who scored timely buckets early on. Akognon poured in 18 points to add to Umeh’s 19 points and forward Ike Diogu’s 10 points and 12 rebounds to help Nigeria hold onto the lead and end up with a 90-76 win.

After the win, Akognon said “(Against) Croatia we wanted to play full pressure on defense and let our defense lead to offense. period.” Nigeria played excellently in all facets of the game and when knocking down 47% of three pointers to add to an 11 point rebounding advantage, a 31-19 bench points differential and 26 assists as a team, Croatia couldn’t overcome the inspired play of D’Tigers.

Next up is the final group game, a matchup with hosts Brazil who are coming off a stinging double overtime loss to Argentina. The Brazilians have played with similar energy as the Nigerians, with the addition of home crowd support. Brazil have not been at their best and Nigeria will see various weaknesses to capitalize on. A win for Brazil and a loss for Spain or Croatia means Brazil will get a chance to move on as the fourth placed team in the group depending on either head to head results, points difference or points scored in the group. Nigeria are in a similar situation to Brazil and also require victory versus Brazil coupled with a loss from Croatia or Spain in order to possibly advance to the quarterfinals as the fourth placed team in the group. Akognon said “For Brazil… we just have to come together as a team now and support each other. And nothing changes in game plan from the last 3 games…we just have to do everything a little bit better to make history.”

Regardless of the outcome on Monday vs Brazil, D’Tigers will be able to hold their heads high when the time comes for them to leave Rio. Gbinije said prior the start of the tournament that “(We are)just trying to do bigger and better things for Nigeria and the continent so we just want to play for something bigger than ourselves.” Coach Voight and his team keep building a solid base for Nigerian Basketball and with a full complement of players available, the international Basketball establishment will need to take notice of D’Tigers in the years to come.

Our rear leaks alot,we got a three shot from ever reliable Oguchi 16-15

One point lead continues at 19-18 tight game

Ebi eri knocks in 3 points and its 22-18

Brazil catch up at 22-22

two points lead for brazil 22-24

D'Tigers doing well so far.

Ben uzoh made it 24-24

Front page plss

3 point shot from Brazil again, ,24-27

Video verification to see if Ike Diodu was pushed or not after a good defensive work from the captain of Nigeria

I'm actually following the match live on narialand so pls keep the scores coming.I honestly want Nigeria to lose.I know many would not like it,but that's what buhari deserve.

28-36 brazil breaking away,its not good for D tigers,good job though,we are not on the same page with Brazil yet.lets hope for miracle.

28-38

Half time at 31-42

successinlife:
Nigeria is killing it 13-8 good one lads,legs give it a try

initial gra - gra

Our shots ain't sinking.

End of 2nd quarter?

What is sure is that if we keep this tempo and improve with few players to come in,i say bye bye to Angola domination of African basketball,i expect Nigeria to be ranked first in Africa soon and then see what happens in the next Afrobasket,basketball world cup and 2020 olympics.Good luck guys,rome wasn't built a day.

gibzzhd:

initial gra - gra

Well,call it anything you like,Brazil is ranked number 9th in the world,number three in America,just behind USA and Argentine,Nigeria is ranked number 25 in the world,third in Africa behind Angola and Tunisia.I can't blame this guys,we lack team chemistry and understanding because we always put together a tournamnt team and not a regular team,Brazil knows their best 5 while Nigeria will do permutation,we need to put our house in order to be a big team if we are to dethrone all these basketball super powers.Good luck.

.

41-51to Brazil

See tension on Ike Diogu as he takes the free throws

gibzzhd:
initial gra - gra

And yu said it

come on naija...i sill see us winning the way this referee is supporting us

Dis thread ought to be on front page. Mods pls do d needful!

Yes we lost,i am proud of this team,God bless you al.Please get onto the court if you think you can play better than these guys.Well done D tigers.

The only Team coming home with medals is the Dream TEAM....


it will shoot us up the Medal Table....Can u imagine 22 Gold Medals...