Team USA had LeBron James’ winner eight seconds from time to thank for avoiding an “embarrassing” defeat against South Sudan. The East African nation were one point ahead before James crushed their dreams. After Team USA survived the scare and a repeat of 2021, Anthony Edwards was thankful to ‘King’ James while praising the side ranked 33rd in the world.

LeBron James came to his team’s rescue and scored 23 points including the winner at the end. Still, this was an unsatisfactory performance and nearly a damaging result, one that could have seen Team USA’s confidence in securing a fifth Olympic gold medal in a row take a hit.

At one point during today’s game, following South Sudan’s dominant first-half performance and a 16-point lead, it looked like they would topple the mighty Team USA. But inspired by James, Team USA sparked an 18-0 run in the second half to cut down the massive deficit. But the game was not over yet! With JT Thor’s miraculous three from the corner, South Sudan took the lead in the final minute. Sure enough, the ball went straight back to LeBron’s hands for the team’s final shot as he drove to the basket and hit a huge layup to regain the lead, eventually winning the game 101-100.

After the game, Anthony Edwards was asked what was the difference between the two sides and how did USA managed to come out of the game with their reputations intact. His answer would have echoed by those cheering on Team USA as he simply replied, “LeBron James!.” Apart from being the highest scorer on his team, LBJ had seven assists and six boards to his name.

Moreover, the Wolves star was highly impressed by the young guns of South Sudan, especially Khaman Maluach, who is just 17 and scored seven points off the bench. “Impressive man, impressive. Point guard’s impressive. Number 11 shooting the heck out of the ball. Number 10 playing with great confidence. I mean they got some good players.”

Still not familiar with the players’ names, even referring to Maluach as the “young big tall dude”, Edwards was left in awe. When Ant-Man found out that Maluach was just a teen, he was even more surprised, “17? I didn’t know that. But 17, he played with great confidence too.”

It is important to note that South Sudan had a few players from the G league and only had four players in their team with NBA experience. They only had played 19 NBA games between them, yet gave their star-studded opponents a run for their money. Even after James’ winner, they came close to stealing the game Carlik Jones missed a shot with about 4 seconds left. But what did LeBron James think of the narrow win?

Instead of worrying about the near embarrassment, LeBron revealed while heading to the locker room that he actually prefers winning this way, “I’m going to be honest: I like those better than the blowouts. At least we get tested. I like being tested.” However, that was not all the praise the Team USA boys had for their newly-arriving opposition.

Although LeBron James’ heroics proved too much to overcome for South Sudan, we surely cannot ignore their effort, being heavy underdogs. Even Ant-Man acknowledged their fight and claimed that he is well aware of the talent that comes out of Africa because of superstars like Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam, “It’s not nothing we didn’t know. I mean these guys are good man. They’re good. You know Joel Embiid, MVP. Siakam, players like that. So, we know they good. They showed us tonight that they can play.”

This win meant that the USA remained unbeaten and avoided the scenes of 2021 when Nigeria stunned them to become the first African country to beat Team USA (90-87). Still, this was far from a convincing performance, and coach Steve Kerr took responsibility for what went down in the 02 arena.

“We were embarrassed…” Steve Kerr highlights preparation issues after South Sudan scare

After the game, Kerr admitted that the team was “embarrassed” at half-time. He also pointed out his own lack of preparedness for the match. “I did not do a great job preparing our team. We did not focus enough on what they’re capable of, and that’s on me.”

This result will also serve as a timely reminder for Team USA, that they are far from invincible having only beaten Australia 98-92 in Abu Dhabi on July 15. The side will play Germany in their last exhibition game before the Olympics.

Knowing what they are up against now, Team USA will surely come better prepared the next time they face South Sudan in the Olympics as both teams are in the same group and will clash on 31 July. Do you think that game will go down to the wire like it did today?