The USA Basketball Men’s National Team defeated South Sudan on Saturday in an exhibition match, though the team needed a clutch basket by Lebron James to secure the victory.
Team USA has had an up-and-down past few exhibitions against national teams from Australia and Serbia. They looked unbeatable during certain portions of the games but often took their foot off the gas and allowed their opponents to keep the game close.
The game against South Sudan was much the same. Team USA got off to a solid start in the first few minutes, but a 41-20 run by South Sudan flipped the script, giving the team from Africa a 58-44 lead going into the intermission.
Team USA came out firing in the second half, reclaiming the lead shortly before the start of the fourth quarter.
South Sudan refused to let Team USA extend its lead during the fourth quarter. It continued to make clutch baskets to keep the game within 10 points.
Forward JT Thor made a basket with less than 30 seconds remaining to give South Sudan a 100-99 lead in the closing seconds.
Team USA called a timeout to determine the best course of action to score a critical basket, opting to give James the ball. The NBA legend made a difficult layup on the left side of the basket with less than 10 seconds left to give the USA a 101-100 victory.
While many hoped the match against South Sudan would be a dominant win for Team USA, James said he was glad the team was tested before Olympic play.
“I’m going to be honest: I like those better than the blowouts,” he said after the game, per NBA.com. “At least we get tested.”
Guard Stephen Curry expressed a similar opinion on the matchup. He said a blowout could not be expected in every single game, noting that the other teams will all come out excited to compete against Team USA.
“You want to play perfect every game; it doesn’t happen. But can you dig deep and do the little things that help you win? Offense can come and go, but defense is the thing that helps you win championships, medals, all that stuff,” he explained, per NBA.com.
Team USA will now look ahead to one final exhibition match against the German National Team in London on Monday at 2 p.m. before traveling to Paris to prepare for Olympic play.
Although Team USA has proven to be the best team ahead of the Olympics, many games will likely be close as opposing teams look to create names for themselves when they play against some of the most well-known players in the world on Team USA.
Olympic play will officially begin with the opening ceremony on July 26, with basketball beginning the next day with the group phase of the games.
Team USA has a tough task dealing with a group featuring Serbia, South Sudan, and Puerto Rico, though Team USA remains the heavy favorite to come out on top.
