London: LeBron James came through in the clutch to secure a crucial victory for the US team.
His layup in the final seconds sealed a narrow 101-100 win over South Sudan in London. Despite facing a 16-point deficit, the US team managed to avoid what could have been a major upset in the history of the program.
South Sudan, a relatively new nation making its Olympic debut, put up a strong fight and had a chance to steal the win. However, Carlik Jones’ last-second shot fell short, allowing the Americans to escape with the victory.
James expressed his preference for close games over blowouts, emphasizing the importance of being tested. Coach Steve Kerr highlighted the need to always be prepared for opponents to give their all when facing the US team.
The Americans found themselves trailing by 16 points at one stage, but managed to stage a remarkable comeback with an 18-0 run in the second half. Despite this, they still required some last-minute heroics. JT Thor’s 3-pointer with 20 seconds remaining put South Sudan ahead 100-99, prompting the Americans to call a timeout and entrust the ball to James.
James executed flawlessly: after patiently biding his time, he made a decisive drive to lay the ball in effortlessly, propelling the US back into the lead. The Americans then secured the crucial stop they needed to seal the victory.
James concluded the game with 23 points, six rebounds, and six assists for the US, who maintained their perfect record of 4-0 with one more game to play – against World Cup champions Germany on Monday – in their pre-Olympic exhibition tour. Anthony Davis contributed 15 points for the American team.
Marial Shayok, a native of Ottawa, led all scorers with 25 points for South Sudan, while Jones achieved a triple-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists.
The two teams are set to face each other in the group stage of the Paris Olympics on July 31.
The game was a mismatch, and for the first half, it was — just not in the way anyone would have expected.
The US roster has 12 players, all of them All-Stars or NBA champions or both, with a total of 189,038 points in their regular-season careers, with 7,832 combined starts. South Sudan has four players who have appeared in an NBA game. They’ve scored a combined 1,228 points and started 19 games.
It didn’t matter. It was 8-0 US after 2 1/2 minutes. The rest of the half: South Sudan 58, US 34. The Americans allowed South Sudan to shoot 61 per cent in the first half and got outscored 21-3 from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes.
“I did not do a great job preparing our team,” Kerr said. “We did not focus enough on what they’re capable of, and that’s on me. I think that really allowed South Sudan to gain confidence early…. They were great. They played a wonderful game and the ending was good for us, just to feel that, to feel what it’s going to be like in Paris and Lille.”
An 18-0 run in the second half — James involved in most of it — was what really saved the US, turning a 76-65 deficit into an 83-76 lead.
South Sudan led by 16 late in the first half — 58-42 — before the Americans got the last basket to cut the deficit to 14 at the break.
But the 18-0 run was key. James had four assists during the spurt and Curry, from about 35 feet, connected on a 3-pointer late in the third that gave the US its first lead since the first quarter at 79-76.
Wenyen Gabriel made a three-pointer to bring South Sudan within 85-84, but James, his former teammate from the Los Angeles Lakers, responded with a three-pointer on the next US possession. Eventually, the Americans managed to secure a victory by the narrowest of margins.
Davis mentioned that the team arrived late at the arena due to heavy London traffic, causing disruptions to their pre-game routines. Despite this, South Sudan demonstrated to the US that no team at the Olympics will back down against the four-time defending gold medalists.
“It doesn’t matter how close the game was,” James stated. “Our goal was to go out there and improve.”
