There were many impressive numbers from Team USA's record-breaking, 83-point win over Nigeria on Thursday, including, uh, the fact that Team USA won by 83 points. In this post, we attempt to rank the statistics in order of impressiveness.
No. 1: 187. Team USA scored 156 points in a 40-minute game. Were it a 48-minute game, Team USA was on pace to score 187 points. The record for most points in a regulation game is 173, achieved twice, most recently by the Suns in 1990. (Phoenix dropped 107 points in the first half of that game.)
No. 2: 83. That was the final margin. That's pretty outrageous. In case you're curious, the NBA record for biggest margin in a game is 68. Surely Nigeria would have made up 15 points with another eight minutes ... right? (Nigeria was on pace to score 87 points in a 48-minute game, so Team USA would have been expected to win by a full 100. Amazing.)
No. 3: 37. That's how many points Carmelo Anthony scored ... in 14 minutes. 'Melo averaged 34 minutes per game last season. His scoring rate against Nigeria would have produced 90 points in a 34-minute night.
No. 4: 52. According to John Schuhmann, Chris Paul led Team USA in plus-minus with a +52 ... in 22 minutes.
No. 5: 71.1. Team USA shot 71.1 percent from the floor. Almost three-quarters of their shots!
No. 6: 29. The team hit 29 three-pointers, including 10 by 'Melo. The NBA team record for most threes in a game is 23.
No. 7: 18. The turnover margin was 18. Team USA had just seven giveaways. Nigeria had 25.
No. 8: 1.79. Team USA scored 1.79 points per possession. If you had a performance in which you took and made a two-pointer every time down the floor -- shooting 100 percent -- with zero turnovers, you'd have 2 points per possession. Team USA was pretty damn close, thanks to its awesome shooting and tons of threes.
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