Team World defeated Team Africa 101-97 thanks to a huge fourth quarter comeback on Saturday in Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s the first ever officially sanctioned NBA game in Africa.
NBA Africa Game 2015 results: Hakeem Olajuwon scores, Team Africa falls to Team World
Team World made a strong fourth quarter push to win the NBA’s first ever official game in Africa.
Dave Sandford/Getty Images
Team Africa, coached by Gregg Popovich, led 77-62 headed into the final quarter but the Chris Paul-captained Team World surged back for the win. While it obviously wasn't NBA basketball at its purest, most competitive form, it was great to see a few of the game's stars back in action even in a glorified scrimmage and also great to see the NBA reach out to a quickly growing global audience.
Here’s the rosters:
The coolest thing might have been seeing Hakeem Olajuwon and Dikembe Mutombo both check in for a few minutes for Team Africa. And yeah, even in their 50's, they can still ball. Here's proof and also a couple of other things we learned.
1. Olajuwon is still better than you at basketball
Any NBA teams need a backup center? Olajuwon can still Dream Shake as good as ever.
That’s great, but this destruction of Trey Burke WITHOUT EVEN JUMPING is straight disrespect. (Also, Trey, come on man.)
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo carried Team Africa for most of the night
The dude rebounded and scored and even though it’s a game in August that nobody was really trying in he looks ready to absolutely dominate next season. (Please forgive my overreactions but we’ve gone far too long without NBA basketball so I can’t help it.)
But seriously, look at this:
3. This was a nice pass
Please come back soon NBA.
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