On Saturday night, Team USA and Nigeria had a friendly pre-Olympic exhibition match. It didn’t go well for USA as Nigeria defeated them in a 90-87 upset that no one expected.
Here is the most embarrassing moment of the night. And not embarrassing for America in any way. We embarrass ourselves in many other ways.
No, this is exclusively shameful for Kevin Durant.
.@KDTrey5 meet @PreciousAchiuwa
❌❌❌ pic.twitter.com/osX0sx9QXk
— D’Tigers | Nigeria Basketball (@NigeriaBasket) July 11, 2021
Yike.
This is the man y’all claim is the best basketball player in the world? He went to Tokyo to play against the best players in the world and got a dunk straight up stolen from his palms and then rolled all over the hardwood like an instructional fire safety video for elementary school kids.
Just a reminder that I wrote about Kawhi Leonard being the best player on Earth and I have yet to see any footage of him being humiliated by a team of guys that do Facebook scams.
But the most shocking part of this upset to Nigeria is that for weeks, I read so much Kevin Love propaganda about his Olympic experience and blah blah. When Love made the Team USA roster, his name stuck out like a sore thumb.
Here’s a blue checkmark defending Love’s inclusion on the team:
Any @KevinLove criticism makes zero sense, by the way. He’s a sharp shooting, strong rebounding big man that can play two positions at the international level. And, as a member of the 2012 team, has equity with USAB, which has always mattered to Jerry Colangelo.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) June 28, 2021
First, Love hasn’t played more than 60 games since 2015. It’s 2021, by the way. Kevin Love is a sharpshooter who shot 36% from 3. Impressive. Knicks ALL-NBA power forward, Julius Randle, shot 41% from 3.
Kevin Love’s strong rebounding grabbing 7 boards a game. Nice. Julius Randle averaged 10 a game soooo…
I was told his overwhelming experience at the international level would propel Team USA to the gold medal. The dialogue around his inclusion was being treated like Larry Bird with a super broken back joining the ’92 Dream Team.
Yet somehow, he couldn’t use that experience to beat Nigeria. Hm.