LeBron James will be carrying the American flag on Friday, but first he’ll be leading the U.S. men’s basketball team.
Also.
James scored the final 11 points in the closing seconds for the United States, and the four-time Olympic gold medalists beat defending World Cup champion Germany 92-88 on Monday night in London in a final tune-up before the Paris tournament starts later this week.
James, who was announced earlier in the day as the U.S.’ male flag-bearer for Friday night’s opening ceremonies on the Seine River (the female flag-bearer will be announced Tuesday), made a number of late-game impacts, such as his layup with eight seconds left to end the game last weekend, giving the U.S. a 101-100 victory over upstart South Sudan.
For the United States, James scored 20 points, Joel Embiid had 15, Stephen Curry had 13 and Anthony Edwards had 11.
Franz Wagner led Germany with 18 points. Andreas Obst, the hero of Germany’s victory over the United States in last year’s World Cup semifinal, had 14 points and Dennis Schroder had 13 points and 10 assists.
Daniel Theis added 13 points and Moritz Wagner had 12 for Germany.
The U.S. finished the exhibition matches with a 5-0 record, but only one game was truly an easy win.
That was against Serbia, which will face the U.S. on Sunday in the first Olympic game of the summer for both teams.
Canada gave the U.S. problems at times, Australia came from far behind late to make things interesting, South Sudan nearly overcame a 43.5-point deficit and Germany took the lead against the U.S. four minutes before the end on Monday.
Then it was James’ turn.
He led Germany 11-6 with 3:57 left in the game.
And now Paris awaits.
The actual matches start this weekend.
