Things are going from bad to worse for head coach Gregg Popovich and his star-studded squad as Team USA suffered its second consecutive exhibition defeat on Monday. The highly-favored Americans lost to Australia, 91-83, in Las Vegas, putting their Olympic gold medal aspirations into question once again.
Team USA has now lost four of its last five matches, dating back to the 2019 World Cup, where they finished a disappointing seventh. Many were expecting a much better showing from Team USA this time around with its roster stacked for the Tokyo Olympics, but their performances thus far have been abysmal, to say the least.
Nigeria stuns Team USA
They entered Saturday's match against Nigeria carrying a 54-2 record in exhibition matches, but that superior slate counted for nothing as the Americans absorbed a shocking 90-87 defeat. It was a sobering loss for Team USA, who handed Nigeria an 83-point shellacking in the 2012 London Olympics and a 43-point beatdown just five years ago in an exhibition.
Nigeria now has the talent to compete with seven NBA players on its roster, and that showed against Team USA, who came into this contest with only four days of practice. Nigeria made mincemeat of Team USA's perimeter defense, shooting 20-of-42 from beyond the arc, as they erased a 10-point deficit to earn the unlikely win.
It didn't help matters for Team USA that three of its key stars struggled mightily with their shooting on Saturday. Damian Lillard, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal combined to shoot just 9 of 30 from the field in the loss to Nigeria.
Popovich remained positive in a post-match interview despite the loss, saying, "I don't think anyone should act, nor will we act, like this is the end of the world."
"In a way I'm kind of glad it happened. It means nothing if we don't learn from it. It could be the most important thing in this tournament for us. To learn lessons from this," the multi-champion coach later added.
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Australia hands Team USA second straight loss
Team USA didn't learn its lessons fast enough, however, as the Americans suffered another humbling loss to Australia on Monday. They simply had no answer for Patty Mills who scored 10 of his team-high 22 points in the final quarter.
Utah Jazz forward Joe Ingles scored 17 points for Australia while Philadelphia 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, three assists, three steals, two rebounds, and two blocks.
Durant and Lillard looked more like All-Stars compared to their initial showing against Nigeria, scoring 22 and 17 points, respectively. It was Team USA's play on the defensive end, however, that needs vast improvement as Australia time and again executed with their crisp cuts and passes into the middle.
Alarm bells are now starting to ring for Team USA's gold medal defense at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics as this is the first time the Americans have lost back-to-back exhibition games since professionals began playing for the national team in 1992. They will look to snap their losing skid this coming Tuesday when they face Argentina.
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