LeBron James will carry the U.S. flag at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, but first, he carried the U.S. men’s basketball team to victory in their final tune-up game. James scored the final 11 points for the Americans, securing a 92-88 win over World Cup champion Germany in London on Monday night.
Announced earlier in the day as the male flagbearer for the Americans, James stepped up time and time again down the stretch, just as he did over the weekend when his layup with 8 seconds left gave the U.S. a 101-100 win over South Sudan. James finished the game with 20 points for the U.S., while Joel Embiid scored 15, Stephen Curry had 13 and Anthony Edwards finished with 11.
Franz Wagner led Germany with 18 points. Andreas Obst, the hero of last year’s German win over the U.S. in the World Cup semifinals, had 14 points, while Dennis Schroder had a 13-point, 10-assist night. Daniel Theis added 13 for Germany and Moritz Wagner scored 12.
The USA finished their exhibition slate 5-0, but only one game was a true cakewalk. That was against Serbia, the team that’ll face the U.S. on Sunday in the first Olympic game this summer for both teams. Canada gave the U.S. issues at times, Australia came from way back to make things interesting at the end, South Sudan nearly pulled off an upset as a 43.5-point underdog, and the Germans had the lead over the U.S. with 4 minutes left on Monday.
Then it was James’ time. He outscored Germany 11-6 by himself in the final 3:57. And now, Paris awaits. The games start for real this weekend.
For the second consecutive game, the U.S. got outscored by 21 points from 3-point range. Germany was 13 for 45 from beyond the arc, the U.S. was 6 for 17, and that’s a 39-18 difference in points from deep. South Sudan outscored the U.S. 42-21 from deep on Saturday.
Also not helping the U.S. cause on Monday: it had 14 turnovers to Germany’s seven.
Theis had 26 points, while Schroder and Obst had 24 apiece in Germany’s 113-111 win over the U.S. in the World Cup at Manila a year ago. That trio was fantastic again Monday, combining for 40 points. It should be noted that the loss to Germany last year was about when some players — James, for example — started seriously thinking about joining the U.S. program for this run to the Paris Games.
Kevin Durant got some pregame shots up again, just as he did Saturday in London. And, again, that was the extent of his game-night action. The three-time gold medalist did not play while he continues to recover from the calf strain he suffered a few days before the U.S. convened for training camp in Las Vegas. Durant missed all five pre-Olympic games exhibitions, though he did practice this past weekend. He has not appeared in a real game since late April, when Phoenix was swept in a first-round NBA playoff series by Minnesota.
