Follow our Olympics coverage in the run up to the Paris Games.
LONDON — Saturday night's game between the United States and South Sudan provided a clear winner for the U.S. team, which had been considered the overwhelming favorite to win as the Olympics approached.
With the Americans desperate to score, the ball went to LeBron James, who did just that. With a team full of top scorers, the kitchen can get crowded and chaotic, with everyone holding a butcher knife and telling the other cooks to take shots.
James scored 13 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, including the game-winning layup, and the U.S. defeated South Sudan 101-100 after trailing by 16 late in the second quarter and 14 at halftime.
It hasn't always worked out that way. Sure, Stephen Curry is more than capable of carrying the offense. Kevin Durant hasn't played a game yet, but he's the all-time leading scorer in the U.S. and a top-tier player in game situations. Anthony Edwards is drawing attention in situations where he has to score or he's nothing.
But among the positives to take from this extremely close win that was largely free of embarrassment, the biggest was how James emerged as the driving force on offense and didn't impede the flow of everyone else.
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“He's got a really good competitive spirit and competitive confidence. I think it was embarrassing for our whole team to be outplayed and down 14 at halftime,” USA coach Steve Kerr said. “And I don't think he was really happy that I didn't start him in the third quarter, but I thought the next group we put in did a really good job defensively. I looked down a couple of times and I could tell LeBron was a little bit anxious to get on the floor. Once he got on the floor and started doing his job, he was great.”
As Kerr noted, James' dominance was somewhat limited by Kerr's substitution patterns. LeBron didn't even start in the second half. Kerr started with his reserves and started on defense. And Kerr stuck to a hockey rotation that featured five new players at once, which meant James was ejected from the game with 6:49 left in the fourth quarter after scoring five straight points.
With 2 minutes, 54 seconds remaining, Kerr brought James and Curry back on the court, staying on the floor (for defense) until the final attack. Among the players who played significant minutes in the second half was the team's new addition, Derrick White. Tyrese Haliburton is an outlier in Kerr's defense-focused game. For the casual spectator, it may have been a bit of a shock to see White, who wasn't with the team when training camp began on July 6, on the court in the final minutes of a close game.
“I think the takeaway for us is, with seven games left, nobody knows what our rotation is going to be,” Kerr said. “It's probably different every game, but we have a pretty good feel for what our guys can do and what we need in a game when we need to play really good defense. We have options and we're happy with what we have.”
Haliburton's minutes have been cut in half since White began playing, and with Durant back in the lineup, both players' minutes could be effectively cut to zero.
The U.S. roster is strong without Durant, but Saturday underscored their need for Durant. He certainly brings a boost to the offense, but he's also a rim protector and can defend the perimeter. Any concerns that Durant's addition would undermine the continuity built over two weeks of training camp were erased when South Sudan nearly beat the U.S.
Coach Kerr opted for defense as a starting option Saturday in Durant's absence, lining up July Holiday alongside Curry. Holiday will guard Curry, but a healthy Durant is better than Devin Booker on the wing defensively, and Kerr and the players have argued that defense will be the team's selling point.
South Sudan made 14 of 33 three-pointers, which was bad enough for the U.S., but they also put the U.S. in a tough spot by making 7 of 14 three-pointers in the first half. Three-pointers have played a big role in the U.S.'s past losses. Lithuania, for example, made its first nine three-pointers in its win over the U.S. at last summer's World Cup, and Nigeria made 20 three-pointers when it stunned the U.S. in a 2021 friendly.
That's why perimeter defense is so important.
“One of the things we know about American basketball is that when a team makes 14 3-pointers against us, they have a real chance,” Kerr said.
Despite LeBron James' performance, a close win over South Sudan on Saturday made it clear that this powerful U.S. team could be eliminated in the medal round. (Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
What was clear Saturday was that defeat and failure to medal will be a big deal no matter what uniform the U.S. wears. teeth Not likely. Kerr blamed South Sudan's strong start on not preparing his players for South Sudan's quick guards (not true, that's why Holiday was there), but he opted not to hold shooting practice on Saturday morning.
Perhaps it had something to do with South Sudan's paper roster, lacking any current NBA players and lacking stars compared to Canada, Australia and Serbia, and Kerr giving the U.S. team the morning off, but the team's hotel is far from the O2 arena in east London, and the U.S. team simply didn't want to fight the traffic.
“I think we let our guard down as a team, as a staff, because it was a friendly game,” Kerr said, “but if there's one thing we've learned with USA Basketball, it's that the gap has closed.”
What happened Saturday was a gentle warning, not a stern one, that no further compromises can be made, even with a star-studded team. The remaining teams the U.S. could face in the Olympics are dangerous enough to demand the full attention of Americans.
This isn't a new concept — the U.S. men's national team has lost nine games over the past three summers — and the only surprising thing about Saturday's result is that it was South Sudan, rather than a more established team, that presented the summer's toughest test.
“If we don't play our basketball, we're going to lose, and our basketball is defense,” Curry said. “But we also learned that we have the gear, that we can dominate you for 40 minutes no matter who's on the floor. This is a great reminder of both of those things.”
The U.S. players are appropriately scared. They know their potential shortcomings. So do the coaches. What happened Saturday isn't a reason for any major adjustments. Rather, it's a reminder that in a best-of-six Olympics, attention to detail is necessary. Anyone can make a 3-pointer these days when they're in good form.
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(Photo of LeBron James going for a layup during Saturday's game: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
