The 2012 Team USA Olympic Basketball squad has beaten Nigeria by a massive 156 points to 73 which sets a new record for the highest scoring performance by a team in Olympic basketball.

In fact the NBA stars were so dominant that they managed to score more points in the first half than Nigeria did in the whole game, leading 78 to 45 going into the break.

Now seeing the American Olympic basketball team dominate their opponents is nothing new, ever since    NBA players were first allowed to compete in 1992 this has become expected, against Nigeria though things reached a whole new level.

What really punished the African team in particular was the USA’s three point shooting, making a huge 29 of 46 attempts, that’s 63% from the outside as a team. Their overall field goal stats were 59 of 83 for 71%.

Team USA’s top scorer was Carmelo Anthony who put 37 points on the board which set a new Olympic record for the most points scored by an individual player in a game. Anthony shot 13 of 16 field goals including an insane 10 of 12 for three pointers, he also scored his 37 points in just a 14 minute period.

This USA beating of Nigeria in the London 2012 Games also set a new record for the biggest winning margin for TeamUSA at 83 points, hard to see that one ever being beaten. They also made the most ever 3 pointers with 29 and the most assists in a game with 41.

Part of the reason this game was such a record breaker was due to the Nigerians playing an open, fast paced game and perhaps trying to play the US at their own game. The game therefore made for a very entertaining and flowing match despite being so one sided.

I guess Nigeria should be applauded for playing in this style, however in hindsight they now probably wish they’d played a tight, slow, defensive and boring game to minimize the damage and keep the score respectable.

In trying to prevent the American players from driving to the basket for easy high percentage baskets the Nigerians seemed to give the outside shooters way too much space turning the game into shooting practice for Team USA.