Bucks Olympic Basketball Round-up: Jrue and Khris Play on Short Rest, Nwora’s Spark Not Enough

I think we are starting to see the extent of what ‘‘ball is life” would entail. Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday went from championship parade to flight to Tokyo to play for Team USA in the summer Olympics. Jordan Nwora missed the championship parade to meet up with the Nigerian basketball team.

Nwora and Nigeria started group play against Australia on Sunday. Nwora started on the bench but the game was close early on. Australia, led by Patty Mills, started breaking away but Nwora tried his best to get Nigeria back in the game.

It wasn’t meant for Nwora and D’Tigers though, who lost 67-84 and will play Germany on Wednesday. Nwora had 10 points, four steals and three rebounds on 4-12 shooting.

The American Bucks duo of Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday also started group play against France. Both were deemed available, along with Devin Booker, despite just getting to Japan. Middleton played five minutes and missed his two shots attempts. Jrue Holiday had a much larger role and did his usual Jrue Holiday things like picking dudes up near full court and defensively causing France’s problems. Jrue tried his best leading the Americans with 18 points, but USA’s bad shooting, inability to handle France’s size and poor late game execution led to a 76-83 loss to France. It was the team’s first Olympics loss since 2004.