While the rest of the world is disappointed and mocking Team USA for their loss to Nigeria in a pre-Olympic exhibition game, head coach Gregg  Popovich is actually “glad” it happened.

According to Coach Pop, they can only learn from the upset as they try to develop chemistry and address the issues that were evident against Nigeria.

“In a way I'm kind of glad it happened,” the Team USA tactician said, per Brian Windhorst of ESPN. “It means nothing if we don't learn from it. It could be the most important thing in this tournament for us. To learn lessons from this.”

Team USA fell  to Nigeria 90-87, with Gregg Popovich even getting blasted for his mind-boggling final play call that doomed their chances of tying the game. It's probably miscommunication as Damian Lillard and co. failed to execute the plan properly, but still, it served as a huge example of the problems the squad need to work on two weeks before the  Olympics in Toyo.

https://twitter.com/lowlightsworld/status/1414046812500107269

Popovich, however, is not worried and is not making a big deal out of it. While the rest of the basketball community see it as a chink in the armor of the once-thought-to-be-invincible Team USA team, the veteran head coach doesn't think it's the “end of the world” for them.

“I don't think anyone should act, nor will we act, like this is the end of the world,” Popovich shared. “It's about everyone else deserves a lot of credit, and we have to play our ass off to do this.”

Of course, the defeat will still be a topic of conversation throughout the Olympics, especially as other nations try to figure out how to take down the giant that is Team USA. It is likely other teams will watch the clips of the exhibition match as well.

As for Team USA, as Pop said it, the only thing, they can do is find solutions to the problems they discovered. That's the purpose of exhibition and practice games anyway.