Team USA escaped O2 Arena in London with a 101-100 win over South Sudan in an exhibition game on Saturday. LeBron James made what turned out to be the game-winning layup with eight seconds left and finished with a team-high 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting, six rebounds and seven assists in 23 minutes.
Here’s the game-winner:
South Sudan led by 14 points at halftime, took a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter and had a chance to win on the final possession. In the last few seconds, Carlik Jones missed a floater, Wenyen Gabriel missed an attempted putback and Anthony Edwards stripped the ball from Gabriel, allowing the United States to hold on.
Jones, the 2023 NBA G League MVP, had a 15-point, 11-assist, 11-rebound triple-double for South Sudan. Marial Shayok scored a game-high 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting, including 6-for-12 from deep.
The United States (barely) overcame a massive disparity beyond the arc. South Sudan made 14 of their 33 3-point attempts (42.4%), while Team USA went 7-for-28 (25%) and missed 12 of their first 15 attempts.
Next up for Team USA: Another exhibition game in London. They will play Germany on Monday at 3 p.m. ET.
What went wrong for Team USA?
After starting the game on a 12-2 run, the United States’ lead evaporated in three minutes. South Sudan’s length and athleticism gave Team USA problems, but the bigger issue was shot-making. Gabriel made back-to-back 3s about halfway through the first quarter, and after that, it seemed like all of his teammates had the hot hand. Team USA, meanwhile, bricked tons of open jumpers, especially when the second unit came in.
Some of the United States’ wounds were self-inflicted. Early in the second quarter, Nuni Omot, the 2023 Basketball Africa League MVP, walked into a practice shot from the top of the key because Edwards wasn’t ready to switch:
There is nothing that Team USA can do, however, about Shayok hitting a circus shot like this in isolation:
This, like the United States’ six-point victory against Australia last week, should be a lesson for Team…
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