LeBron James controls the end of the game for Team USA, which comes back from a 16-point deficit to beat South Sudan.
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LONDON – It had the makings of the second-biggest and most monumental upset in international basketball history.
The first? It’s easy: a young developing country like South Sudan manages to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games, along with the famous American team.
It was a team built from scratch, hastily assembled, and training for these Games outside its borders – there are no indoor courts in South Sudan – that forced LeBron James into championship mode on Saturday for an exhibition game.
What happened at the O2 Arena was the result of two forces converging. South Sudan played the game of their youth; the team is only a few years old and making its first trip to the Olympics, with Sudanese refugees on board. And the other team, 43 points ahead, in the words of coach Steve Kerr, “let their guard down as a team and as a staff.”
So that was it United States 101, South Sudan 100a game controlled mainly by South Sudan, saved by LeBron with the winning shot with eight seconds leftand tense until the buzzer after a pair of missed chances by South Sudan.
LeBron James scores a game-high 25 points, including the game-winning basket for Team USA in an exhibition against South Sudan.
It should be noted that this match did not count as an exhibition match. But try to explain that to all the participants. Indeed, given the way the match became serious in the second half and brought out the best in both benches, it really feels like it did.
“Crazy game,” Stephen Curry said. “They played really intense. It was cool to see how we responded. LeBron had a great finish at the end of the game.”
South Sudan scored baskets — easy, hard, crazy, from long range — to extend the lead to 16 points in the second quarter. The United States struggled to shoot from deep, missing 12 of its first 13 shots from long range. That’s when the Americans had to make a decision in the second half: Would they play this game to win, even as an exhibition? The choice was easy.
Kerr used the second, more defensively stout unit to start the third quarter. The interior protection and presence of Anthony Davis changed the game. The deficit began to narrow. On the bench, LeBron fidgeted, got up from his seat, did some stretching exercises in an open space above the floor.
“Look,” Kerr said. “The whole team was embarrassed at halftime. He wasn’t happy that I didn’t start him in the third quarter. I looked at the bench and I could see him eager to get out there.”
Once the starters were back in, order was restored. Jrue Holiday stopped a bouncing fly ball and passed it to LeBron for a dunk. Devin Booker tied the game with a three-pointer with 58 seconds left in the third quarter, then Curry gave the U.S. the lead with a three-pointer.
But South Sudan refused to give up; instead, the stubborn team stayed close in the fourth quarter and took a one-point lead on JT Thor’s shot over LeBron with 20 seconds left.
There was silence at the O2 and a timeout for the United States. Both events were completely unexpected, exhibition match or not. Where did it come from? How did it happen?
You can start here, about South Sudan: The country gained independence from Sudan in 2011. The following year, Sudan’s most accomplished player, Luol Deng, who fled the war-torn country when he was 5 and spent much of his NBA career with the Bulls, played for Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics because South Sudan didn’t have a team.
When a movement began in South Sudan to build a basketball infrastructure, Deng answered the call and became its executive director. The team initially had no funds, so Deng funded the team, buying equipment and covering travel costs.
And there were no players; he had to build a team, encouraging players with dual residency in other countries to come back to their home countries and become pioneers.
“When you think about what this team had to overcome to qualify for the Olympics, I’m really happy for Luol,” Kerr said. “They were able to put together a good team in the face of adversity.”
South Sudan beat 11-time African champions Angola at last year’s World Cup to qualify for these Olympics.becoming the lowest-ranked team to do so since 2004. It was a spectacular rise from nowhere for a team that featured just two NBA end-of-rotation players in Thor and Wenyen Gabriel.
And after LeBron isolated himself and scored a powerful layup with nine seconds left to give the USA the lead, South Sudan had a chance to shake up international basketball with a final possession. The sold-out O2 crowd, which had earlier chanted “USA,” began to turn on the underdog, if only to witness a moment.
A missed shot, followed by another even closer – Anthony Edwards could have gotten away with an armbar – dashed great hopes.
Carlik Jones, a guard who had a brief NBA career, had a triple-double of 15 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists and was very efficient all night for the United States. Gabriel, LeBron’s former teammate on the Lakers, played well with 11 points, as did Marial Shayok (24 points). Again, not a solid team, but a determined one.
“The ending was good for us,” Kerr said. “It reminds us that when we play teams, it’s the most important game of their lives. It was the first game where we felt like everything was on the line. It’s good for us to feel that now. We’re going to feel that again. It’s good to be challenged.”
The decision to play LeBron for the final possession was strategic.
“We wanted to get him the ball,” Kerr said. “We had a couple of options. But the idea was to get LeBron down. He’s such a competitive guy.”
LeBron scored 25 points in 23 minutes and was consistent when his teammates weren’t. Davis had another double-double as a backup. Curry was the only American player not to be cold from deep, finishing 3 of 9 and hitting a key 3-pointer late in the game.
Kerr remained diplomatic after the close call.
“If we don’t play the right way, if we don’t have the energy and the focus, we can get beat no matter who we play,” he said. “But we have that equipment and if we can find it, we can overwhelm teams. It reminded us of two things: that, and if we don’t play our best, we can get beat.”
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Shaun Powell has been covering the NBA for over 25 years. You can email him herefind his archives here And follow him on X.
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