Where is South Sudan? You might ask. Well, after testing the all-mighty Team USA this weekend, you probably won’t forget them now. In fact, the U.S. men’s national team should have nightmares when thinking about how the African country almost upset them during Saturday night’s exhibition match before the upcoming Paris Olympic Games.
If it wasn’t for LeBron James’ last-second heroics, the American squad might have not been able to escape with a 101-100 win at the O2 Arena. This is why South Sudan, who at one point lead the scoreboard by 16 points, are called the ‘Bright Stars.’
The matchup was so dramatic, that even former Hornets player JT Thor almost dropped in a shot from the deep with 20 seconds to the final buzzer, but wasn’t able to put it inside the net and bury Team USA.
Coach Kerr recognizing the team after last night’s exhibition. 🇸🇸 pic.twitter.com/LF0uiZIKjx
— South Sudan Basketball (@SSBFed) July 21, 2024
After the match, Steve Kerr took on all the responsibility of not knowing too much about their opponent’s game before the clash. “I did not do a great job preparing our team, I think we did not focus enough on what they’re capable of and that’s on me,” said Team USA’s head coach.
“They played a wonderful game and the ending was good for us just to feel that. To feel what it’s going to be like in Paris and Lille … a good reminder that when we play against teams, it’s the biggest game of their lives and we have to expect everyone to play like that,” he expressed postgame.
If it wasn’t for the likes of LeBron, who appears as the roster’s main leader even at 39 years of age, the United States would’ve probably lost the contest. The Lakers superstar scored 25 points and made consecutive power plays in a 23-5 run from late in the third quarter to early in the fourth.
“Don’t take nothing away from South Sudan,” the NBA’s all-time leading scorer said this weekend. “They played extremely good basketball and that’s why the game is won in between the lines and not all on paper.”
Steph Curry, on the other hand, also contributed with two clutch shots from beyond the arc. “We can be beat if we don’t play our brand of basketball. And our brand of basketball is playing defense,” said Curry, who ended that night with 12 points to his name.
Kerr acknowledged that the squad felt ’embarrassed’ at halftime and praised Team USA’s ability to react and conquer the game in the final seconds
In Steve Kerr’s own words, the locker room admitted that they had been “totally outplayed” at halftime, as they were trailing by 14 points and even felt “embarrassed,” to being outplayed by South Sudan. Despite this, the Warriors tactician decided not to play leaders like James into the third quarter to give the second group the chance to change the game’s course.
“I think the whole team was embarrassed at halftime to be totally outplayed and down 14,” Kerr shared. “And I don’t think [James] 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 chomping at the bit to be out on the floor as soon as he got out there and he went to work, so he was brilliant.”
As for the South Sudan coach Royal Ivey, who also serves as an assistant coach with the Rockets, he couldn’t hide his pride for not shying away against the gold-medal contenders by putting up a fight the entire contest. He hopes to take this same energy into the Olympics and produce some historic performances.
“We want to take the momentum, the mindset, the tenaciousness that we had [to the Olympics],” said the tactician who works in Houston. “We didn’t flinch.”
