LONDON: South Sudan’s basketball team nearly stunned a team of NBA superstars from the United States on Saturday before losing 101-100 in an Olympic warm-up game in London.
LeBron James, 39, the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, scored a game-high 25 points, including the game-winning layup with eight seconds remaining at the O2 Arena.
Leading 58-44 at halftime, South Sudan went on an 8-0 run and were poised to pull off one of the biggest upsets in international basketball before James made the save.
“The ending was good for us – just to feel it, to feel what it’s going to be like in Paris,” US coach Steve Kerr said.
“A good experience for us. A good reminder that when we play against teams, it’s the biggest experience of their lives and we have to expect everyone to play like that.”
J. T. Thor, who played for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets the past three seasons, sank a three-pointer with 20 seconds left to give South Sudan a 100-99 lead.
South Sudan had one final possession after James made the game-winning shot, but Carlik Jones missed a jumper with six seconds left and Wenyen Gabriel missed on two putback attempts before the final buzzer.
“South Sudan was amazing,” Kerr said. “I didn’t do a great job preparing my team. We didn’t focus enough on what they’re capable of and that’s on me.”
“I think that really gave South Sudan some confidence early on.
“Once we turned it around in the second half, they were already knocking down a lot of threes and they were feeling really good about themselves.
It was James who sparked a 23-5 US run from late in the third quarter to early in the fourth.
“We have to continue to take a step forward,” said James, a two-time Olympian and four-time NBA champion.
“A lot of these teams that we play, they train either a month or months in advance and we have maybe two weeks together.
“So every game, every film session, we have an opportunity. We have to try to make the most of it and not take any steps back.”
Cameroon native Joel Embiid, who will become a US citizen in 2022, added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Americans.
Anthony Davis came off the bench to produce 15 points and 11 rebounds for America’s NBA All-Star Team.
“We’re not 100 percent together as we saw tonight,” Davis said, “but it’s like I said, everything is manageable.”
For South Sudan, ranked 33rd in the world, Marial Shayok scored 24 points, Jones added 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists and Thor had 14 points off the bench.
Shayok plays in China and briefly played alongside Embiid with Philadelphia, while Jones plays for perennial Serbian power Partizan. The Americans will face South Sudan again in the group stage of the Olympics on July 31 in Lille.
