Staff USA escaped O2 Enviornment in London with a 101-100 win over South Sudan in an exhibition recreation on Saturday. LeBron James made what turned out to be the game-winning layup with eight seconds left and completed with a team-high 23 factors on 9-for-13 taking pictures, six rebounds and 7 assists in 23 minutes.
Here is the game-winner:
South Sudan led by 14 factors at halftime, took a one-point lead late within the fourth quarter and had an opportunity to win on the ultimate possession. In the previous few seconds, Carlik Jones missed a floater, Wenyen Gabriel missed an tried putback and Anthony Edwards stripped the ball from Gabriel, permitting the US to carry 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 factors on 9-for-16 taking pictures, together with 6-for-12 from deep.
America (barely) overcame a large disparity past the arc. South Sudan made 14 of their 33 3-point makes an attempt (42.4%), whereas Staff USA went 7-for-28 (25%) and missed 12 of their first 15 makes an attempt.
Subsequent up for Staff USA: One other exhibition recreation in London. They may play Germany on Monday at 3 p.m. ET.
What went flawed for Staff USA?
After beginning the sport on a 12-2 run, the US’ lead evaporated in three minutes. South Sudan’s size and athleticism gave Staff USA issues, however the greater subject was shot-making. Gabriel made back-to-back 3s about midway by way of the primary quarter, and after that, it appeared like all of his teammates had the new hand. Staff USA, in the meantime, bricked tons of open jumpers, particularly when the second unit got here in.
A number of the United States’ wounds had been self-inflicted. Early within the second quarter, Nuni Omot, the 2023 Basketball Africa League MVP, walked right into a apply shot from the highest of the important thing as a result of Edwards wasn’t prepared to modify:
There may be nothing that Staff USA can do, nevertheless, about Shayok hitting a circus shot like this in isolation:
This, like the US’ six-point victory towards Australia final week, must be a lesson for Staff USA. Even with out Bol Bol, who pulled out for private causes, South Sudan has a roster filled with execs, who rightfully, see this sort of recreation as a possibility to indicate what they’ll do. Any one in every of them can catch fireplace, and, if Staff USA is not flattening their 3s, they’re weak, regardless of all of their huge names and All-Star appearances.
I doubt Steve Kerr and his teaching employees are livid with James about the best way he defended JT Thor on the possession earlier than the game-winner. Thor gave South Sudan the lead by hitting a troublesome, contested stepback 3.
Ideally, although, Staff USA wouldn’t have been in a one-possession recreation at that time. And possibly they should not have been. The officers might need missed a foul name on the earlier possession, on which Derrick White tried to attach with Anthony Davis on an alley-oop, and, simply earlier than that, Stephen Curry missed a wide-open 3 that may have put the US up by seven factors.
If I had been Kerr, I’d be a bit bothered by Edwards and Jayson Tatum taking pictures a mixed 1-for-10 from deep, however I’d solely query a number of of these shot makes an attempt. Offensively, the true tough stuff got here within the type of turnovers; James had 4 of them, Joel Embiid had three (together with a few horrible passes out of double groups) and these miscues allowed South Sudan to get out in transition.
On the brilliant facet, the US truly received the turnover battle on this recreation (15-12). Staff USA, as standard, was at their greatest when their protection led to offense. Typically talking, although, their transition protection has to enhance.
Khaman Maluach is 7-foot-2 and has 3-point vary, and he is headed to Duke subsequent season. He was spectacular on Saturday. However there isn’t any excuse for him getting a transition dunk as straightforward as that.
A brand new wrinkle within the rotation
Like he did towards Australia, Kerr elected to place the second unit on the ground in the beginning of the third quarter. This time, although, there was a twist: As an alternative of Tyrese Haliburton working level, White obtained his first run with the nationwide workforce. White did not rating in his 11 minutes (and solely tried one shot), however I favored what I noticed from him. Staff USA obtained a bunch of fine stuff out of his pick-and-rolls with Davis, and he racked up 5 assists in brief order.
White is not the identical sort of offensive weapon as Haliburton, however he regarded comfy instantly, improved Staff USA’s perimeter protection and by no means obtained in the best way. I would be curious to see what lineups with each Haliburton and White seem like, nevertheless it’s unclear if Kerr will even experiment with them. There are solely so many minutes to go round, and Kevin Durant hasn’t even performed a recreation but.
Embiid … encouraging?
Offered which you could look previous these troubling turnovers, this was an encouraging efficiency from Embiid, whose continued presence within the beginning lineup has been the topic of a lot debate since this collection of exhibition video games started. In 18 minutes, the massive man scored 14 factors on 5-for-6 taking pictures, including seven rebounds and two assists. Nobody on South Sudan’s roster might guard him with out fouling, in order that they shortly resorted to sending double-teams his manner. For a second within the second quarter, when Staff USA could not get something occurring offense, taking part in by way of Embiid appeared like their greatest guess.
My favourite Embiid play, although, befell lower than a minute into the sport. Take a look at this give-and-go with James:
Embiid continues to be determining the place he suits offensively, and Staff USA continues to be attempting to determine methods to contain him with out sacrificing their ball motion. It is not pure but, nevertheless it’s coming alongside.
