Veteran LeBron James gave credit to South Sudan after the USA’s narrow 101-100 win in London on Saturday. James made a driving layup with eight seconds left to help his team dodge a historic upset in their Basketball history.
South Sudan played out of their skins and challenged the potent US team in every quarter of the game. However, James not only scored the game-winning shot but also added crucial 25 points for his team.
“Don’t take nothing away from South Sudan,” James said. “They played extremely good basketball and that’s why the game is won in between the lines and not all on paper.”
Meanwhile, USA’s coach Steve Kerr took the blame on shoulders and said he didn’t prepare his team in the right manner.
“I did not do a great job preparing our team, I think we did not focus enough on what they’re capable of and that’s on me,” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said.
Kerr added they need to be prepared and other teams will come hard at them in the upcoming Olympics.
“They played a wonderful game and the ending was good for us just to feel that. To feel what it’s going to be like in Paris and Lille … a good reminder that when we play against teams, it’s the biggest game of their lives and we have to expect everyone to play like that.”
At the halftime break, South Sudan was leading by 14 points (58-44) but the USA made a comeback in the last two quarters.
“I think the whole team was embarrassed at halftime to be totally outplayed and down 14,” Kerr said. “And I don’t think [James] was real thrilled about me not starting him in the third quarter. But I thought that next group that we put out there really did a good job defensively. And I looked down a couple of times and I can see LeBron chomping at the bit to be out on the floor as soon as he got out there and he went to work, so he was brilliant.”
On the other hand, Steph Curry, who scored 12 points, admitted they didn’t play their brand of basketball.
“We can be beat if we don’t play our brand of basketball. And our brand of basketball is playing defense,” said Curry. “We didn’t make them uncomfortable at all the first half and they took advantage of it. But we also learned we have that gear if we can find it, no matter who’s out there on the court, we can overwhelm teams for 40 minutes and it’s a great reminder of both.”
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