As an exhibition game, it would have been a bad result for the United States to lose to South Sudan in the men’s 5×5, a tune-up for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
It’s not just bad, it’s embarrassing.
The United States avoided that with a 101-100 victory over South Sudan in London on Saturday.
But the game was close. South Sudan led by 16 points, led 58-44 at halftime and still held a double-digit lead midway through the third quarter. With 20 seconds left in the game, South Sudan led 100-99 and had a chance to pull off a comeback with the final shot of the game.
South Sudan has presented the United States with a test and a warning.
The United States has an all-star team with LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Anthony Edwards and Anthony Davis, but South Sudan does not.
James powered the USA to victory and prevented an embarrassing defeat, scoring the winning point with a driving layup shot with eight seconds left in the fourth quarter in a dominant FIBA performance that included 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds on 10-of-14 shooting.
Embiid had 14 points and seven rebounds, and Edwards had 11. Curry also had 10 points, and Davis recorded another double-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.
Still, South Sudan demonstrated what other Olympic medal contenders think: In a one-game scenario under FIBA rules (shorter games, less ball possession, more physical intensity), it’s possible to beat the U.S. Perhaps unlikely, but possible.
South Sudan shot 61.1 percent from the field and 7 of 14 from 3-point range, while the U.S. shot 41.7 percent (15 of 36) from the field and 1 of 12 from 3-point range and committed nine turnovers in the first half. Turnovers have been an issue for the U.S. in exhibition games and are a result of fielding a team that has never played together before.
This is the blueprint for any other country playing against the U.S., but it’s not easy to accomplish. Shoot well from the field, especially 3-pointers, and force the U.S. into a game where they have a high turnover rate and have to play poorly. It’s hard to limit that many good players, even for a 40-minute game. But that won’t stop teams from trying.
South Sudan is still in its infancy as a nation, preparing for its first Olympic appearance in men’s basketball, has just two players with NBA experience (Wenyen Gabriel and Karlik Jones) and 17-year-old center Kaman Maruachi, who will play at Duke University next season and is a potential lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
The roster is filled with players from the G League and other international leagues, but the talent and direction is there: former NBA player Luol Deng is president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation and an assistant coach to South Sudan head coach Royal Ivey, who played in the NBA.
The team was not expected to make it out of Group C, which also includes the United States, Serbia, and Puerto Rico. The United States is overwhelmingly favored at -500 to win a fifth consecutive gold medal in Paris, while South Sudan is +25000 to win gold. However, this performance should give South Sudan the confidence to surprise people at the Olympics.
The U.S. and South Sudan meet on July 31 in the second group game for both teams. I don’t think the U.S. needs to sound any alarm bells at this Olympics, especially with all the talk from coach Steve Kerr about how hard it is to win a gold medal and a team chock-full of MVPs and All-Stars.
The U.S. needed to be prepared from the start and might lose if they were to be outscored by a better team with double-digit leads, but on the positive side, the U.S. handled the unexpected challenge and fought through the struggles without too much frustration to win a close game.
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