LeBron James will fly the American flag on Friday. He did, however, start the American men’s basketball team.
In their penultimate practice before the Paris Games begin later this week, the four-time defending Olympic gold medalists held off World Cup champion Germany 92-88 in London on Monday night. James scored the final 11 points for the Americans down the line.
James, who was named earlier in the day as the American team’s male flagbearer for Friday night’s opening ceremony down the Seine River (the female flagbearer will be unveiled on Tuesday), performed admirably down the stretch, just as he did over the weekend when his layup with eight seconds remaining gave the Americans a 101-100 victory over South Sudan, a newcomer.
For the United States, James ended with 20 points, Joel Embiid with 15, Stephen Curry with 13, and Anthony Edwards with 11.
For us, it was a useful test. And I’m happy that, like we did against South Sudan the other day, we were able to maintain our poise and persist once again,” James said. “We had a good victory there.”
Franz Wagner scored 18 points to lead Germany. Dennis Schroder finished with 13 points and 10 assists, while Andreas Obst, the hero of Germany’s victory against the United States in the World Cup quarterfinals the previous year, finished with 14. Moritz Wagner scored 12 points, while Daniel Theis added 13 for Germany.
The Americans concluded their exhibition schedule with a perfect 5-0 record, although just one match proved to be an absolute breeze. That was against Serbia, who the United States will play in their first Olympic game of the summer on Sunday.
Canada sometimes caused problems for the United States, Australia rallied to make the game exciting in the end, South Sudan came dangerously close to pulling off an upset as a 43.5-point underdog, and with 4 minutes remaining on Monday, the Germans led the United States.
James’ turn came next. In the last 3:57, he outscored Germany 11–6 on his own.
Now, Paris is in wait. This weekend is when the real games begin.
Curry said, “We’ve experienced everything.” “Now, it’s only a question of turning up next week when the lights are shining. I believe we’re prepared. I believe we are ready. We must now put up a show.
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