On Friday, LeBron James will carry the American flag. But first, he led the U.S. men’s basketball team.
Again.
James scored the final 11 points for the Americans down the stretch, and the four-time Olympic gold medalists defeated World Cup champion Germany 92-88 on Monday night in London in their final warm-up before the Paris Games begin later this week.
Announced earlier in the day as the Americans’ male flag bearer at Friday night’s opening ceremony on the Seine River (the female flag bearer will be revealed Tuesday), James appeared again and again down the stretch, just as he did throughout the weekend. When your tray with 8 seconds The left gave the United States a 101-100 victory over upstart South Sudan.
James scored 20 points for the United States, while Joel Embiid scored 15, Stephen Curry had 13 and Anthony Edwards finished with 11.
Franz Wagner led Germany with 18 points. Andreas Obst, the hero of last year’s German victory over the United States in the World Cup semifinals, had 14, while Dennis Schroder had a 13-point, 10-assist night. Daniel Theis added 13 for Germany and Moritz Wagner scored 12.
The Americans finished their exhibition with a 5-0 score, but there was only one match that was truly easy: against Serbia, the team that will face the United States on Sunday in the first Olympic match of this summer for both teams.
Canada gave the U.S. trouble at times, Australia came from behind to make things interesting late, South Sudan nearly pulled off an upset as a 43.5-point underdog and the Germans had the lead over the U.S. with 4 minutes left on Monday.
Then it was James’ turn, outscoring Germany 11-6 in the final 3:57.
And now Paris awaits us. The matches begin in earnest this weekend.
3 point problems
For the second straight game, the United States was outscored by 21 points from three-point range, nearly defeating the Americans again.
Germany shot 13 of 45 from deep, the United States 6 of 17, for a 39-18 difference in points from deep.
South Sudan outscored the United States 42-21 on three-pointers on Saturday.
The American situation did not help on Monday either: they lost the ball 14 times, compared to seven for Germany.
Looking back
Theis scored 26 points, while Schroder and Obst each had 24 in Germany’s 113-111 victory over the United States at the World Cup in Manila a year ago.
That trio was fantastic again on Monday, combining for 40 points.
It should be noted that the loss to Germany last year was the moment when some players (James, for example) began to seriously think about joining the American program for this run to the Paris Games.
Without Durant
Kevin Durant again took some shots before the game, just as he did on Saturday in London. And, once again, that was all he did that night.
The three-time gold medalist did not play as he continues to recover from the calf strain he suffered just days before the United States gathered for training camp in Las Vegas.
Durant missed all five exhibition games leading up to the Olympics, though he practiced last weekend. He hasn’t appeared in a real game since late April, when Phoenix was swept in an NBA playoff series by Minnesota.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
