Team USA's narrow win over South Sudan shows the Olympic favorites can't coast to gold (2024)

Follow our Olympics coveragein the lead-up to the Paris Games.

LONDON — The proceedings of Saturday night between Team USA and South Sudan created clarity for the heavily favored American team as the Olympics approach.

In a dire situation when the USA absolutely had to have a basket or else, the ball went to LeBron James, and he delivered. On a team full of alpha scorers, it can get crowded and confusing in the kitchen, with everyone holding their butcher knives and pointing at the other cooks to take the shot.

James scored 13 of his game-high 25 points in the second half, including the game-winning layup, and the USA beat South Sudan 101-100 after trailing by 16 late in the second quarter and by 14 at halftime.

It may not always work out like that. Stephen Curry is of course more than capable of carrying an offense. Kevin Durant hasn’t played yet; he is USA’s all-time leading scorer and best clutch player ever. Anthony Edwards is earning a look when it’s score-or-else.

But among the positives that can be taken from an otherwise extremely narrow win in which embarrassment was barely avoided, a big one is James both emerged as the primary option on offense and also didn’t bog down the flow for everyone else.

“He’s just got such an incredible competitive spirit and confidence in the clutch, and I think the whole team was embarrassed at halftime to be totally outplayed and down 14,” USA coach Steve Kerr said. “And then I don’t think he 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 champing at a bit to be out on the floor. As soon as he got out there and he went to work, he was brilliant.”

As Kerr mentioned, James’ domination was confined a bit by Kerr’s substitution patterns. LeBron didn’t even start the second half; Kerr chose to use the reserves first, to begin with defense. And then Kerr stuck with the hockey subs rotation of five new players at a time, which meant James was out of the game with 6:49 left in the fourth quarter after scoring 5 straight points.

Kerr went back to James and Curry with 2:54 left, and they stayed on the floor until the last possession (for defensive purposes). Among the players logging heavy minutes in the second half was the team’s newest addition, Derrick White. Tyrese Haliburton is the odd man out when Kerr emphasizes defense. To the casual observer, it may have been a little jarring to see White, who was not on this team when training camp started July 6, to be on the floor in the closing minutes of a close game.

“The lesson for us, I think, is we’ve got seven games left after this, so who the hell knows what our rotation’s going to look like,” Kerr said. “It’s probably different every game, but we have a pretty good feel for what guys can do when we need a really good defensive stretch, what the game calls for. We’ve got, we’ve got options, and we like what we have.”

Haliburton’s minutes have been cut in half since White started playing in games. Both players’ minutes could basically be wiped out once Durant returns.

For as mighty as the American roster is without Durant, what happened Saturday underscored that Durant is needed. He provides more offense, yes, but is a rim protector who can still guard on the perimeter. Any concerns that lingered about Durant’s addition disrupting the continuity that had been built over two weeks of training camp went out the window when South Sudan nearly took the U.S. down.

For the options Kerr has as starters (with Durant out), he chose defense Saturday by playing Jrue Holiday next to Curry. Holiday gives Curry protection, but a healthy Durant is an upgrade over Devin Booker defensively on the wing, and both Kerr and the players insist defense will be this team’s calling card.

South Sudan was 14-of-33 from 3-point range for the game, which is bad enough for the U.S., but also shot 7-of-14 from deep in the first half to put the Americans in such a hole. In some past U.S. losses, opponent 3-point shooting was a major factor. For instance, Lithuania made its first nine 3s in a World Cup victory over the Americans last summer. And when Nigeria stunned the U.S. in a friendly in 2021, the Nigerians connected on 20 3s.

Which is why perimeter defense is paramount.

“One thing we know well with USA basketball, if teams are going to make 14 3s on us, then they’ve got a real shot,” Kerr said.

What Saturday also made clear is that, no matter who the U.S. has in uniform, losses and medal-round failure are possible. Kerr took the blame for South Sudan’s hot start, saying he didn’t prepare the players for South Sudan’s quick guards (which is not really true — that’s why Holiday was out there). Kerr did, however, choose not to hold shootaround Saturday morning.

Perhaps South Sudan’s roster on paper — no current NBA players, lacking in stars compared to Canada, Australia and Serbia — had something to do with Kerr giving the Americans the morning off. But also, the team hotel is far away from the O2 Arena on London’s east side, and the Americans simply decided not to battle the heavy traffic.

“I think because it was a friendly, I think we let our guard down as a team, as a staff for sure,” Kerr said. “But what we’ve learned with USA Basketball is that the gap has closed.”

What happened Saturday turned out to be a gentle-ish reminder, instead of an egg-on-face call-to-arms that no corners can be cut anymore, even with this star-studded roster. The rest of the teams the U.S. may face in the Olympics are dangerous enough to demand the Americans’ full attention.

This is not a new concept. American men’s national teams have lost nine games in the last three summers of action. The surprising part of Saturday’s result was merely that the stiffest test of the summer was provided by South Sudan instead of someone more established.

“We can be beat if we don’t play our brand of basketball, and our brand of basketball is playing defense,” Curry said. “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.”

American players do have “appropriate fear” — they are aware of their potential shortcomings. The coaching staff is too. What happened Saturday isn’t cause for a major adjustment. Rather, it’s a reminder that attention to the smaller details is needed in a six-game Olympic tournament, where anyone can get hot and make a 3 these days.

(Photo of LeBron James going up for a layup during Saturday’s game: Tim Clayton / Corbis via Getty Images)

Joe Vardon is a senior NBA writer for The Athletic, based in Cleveland. Follow Joe on Twitter @joevardon