Basketball, one of the only sports to take the place of a truly global sport, has had its fair share of legendary contests. In fact, I’m willing to bet that when you think of the greatest basketball games ever played they are almost always NBA games. However, like all games, there is always a winner and, by default, a loser. Some games have closer scores, and some have higher margins of victories for the winners. But in the FIBA 2019 tournament, the Swedish team pulled one of the greatest heists on the court in history, beating their Armenian opponents 149-26.

Sweden Makes Short Work of Armenia

The Swedish Empire was reborn for a brief moment of dominance, almost as if the late King Gustavus Adolphus rallied the national team for another monumental victory to restore the Northern Empire to another era of greatness. If you want some laughs of biblical proportions, look no further than the stat sheet. Shockingly, the Armenian team was held scoreless for the entire first quarter. While that stat might be passable in other sports like football, baseball, or even hockey, it is simply unheard of in basketball. At least, at the professional level. Additionally, this is the “nation’s finest” of Armenia, yet they couldn’t even muster a point until the second quarter.

The first half was unforgiving for Armenia, who was only able to score an abysmal six points to close out the half. This compared to the precision work of Sweden’s national team, who ran up the scoreboard 69-0 to close out the first half. Nice. Mercifully, the game did have to come to an end, as the clock eventually ran out. The top scorer for team Sweden finished the contest with 23 points scored. Whereas Armenia’s top player had an underwhelming 8 points to their name.

A Victory For The Ages

If you haven’t watched the game, it seriously looks like a comedy rather than a professional sports match. To be fair, a comedy of errors did occur for the Armenian team, and a series of fortunate events transpired for Sweden. All in all, this game will survive the annals of history as one of the greatest statistical victories in the tournament, in professional basketball, and in sporting events. On the flip side, it’ll surely go down as one of the most devasting defeats for Armenia’s men’s national team, the FIBA tournament, and the sport of basketball. However, the game was recorded for our viewing pleasure, without an audience, so you should definitely check it out and cheer from your couch.

By : Zach Espinoza

*Photo Courtesy of Fiba Basketball