In the final friendly match before the Olympics, the US basketball team faced the ultimate challenge of being the 2023 FIBA World Cup champion. The two teams struggled throughout four rounds, creating an exciting chase. Presented at O2 Arena, London (UK).
And to end this balanced match, LeBron James, for the second consecutive appearance, played the role of the American team’s hero. He scored 11 consecutive points in the final 3 minutes and 57 seconds of the game , single-handedly scoring more points than the entire German team to lead the US to a 92-88 victory.
Watch LeBron James’ streak of 11 consecutive points helping the US team win against Germany:
This 11-0 personal score streak of LeBron James brought the 5th consecutive win for the US team, the defending champion and also a strong candidate for the Olympic gold medal. They are undefeated in all five pre-Olympic friendlies, defeating Canada, Serbia, Australia, South Sudan and now Germany.
Each opponent brings its own challenges and difficulties. But up to this point, head coach Steve Kerr’s team has still successfully neutralized each opponent one by one, ready for the Olympics to start this weekend.
Difficult challenge
This match offers an interesting contest between two defending champions. While the US is the defending Olympic champion with a gold medal in Tokyo in 2021, Germany is the team that has just won the throne at the FIBA World Cup 2023, eliminating the US team in the semi-finals last summer.
Starting with a 29-17 advantage, the US team soon faced fierce resistance from the German team in the second and third rounds. Dennis Schroder led the “tanks” with top holding and creating abilities. high, causing many difficulties for NBA stars on the other side of the front line.
Even when the US team played sublimely in the fourth quarter thanks to a series of difficult finishing situations from Curry and Booker, Germany still maintained an 82-81 lead. But this is the time when the American defense focuses on defense, creating a premise for LeBron James to shine in attack.
From breaking through to the basket, shooting threes or finishing muscularly in front of the opponent’s defense, James did everything to bring in 11 consecutive points to lead America to victory.
Review highlights of this extremely exciting friendly match with many beautiful plays here
LeBron James scored 20 points the whole game with 8-11 FG (2-2 3PT), accompanied by 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. Joel Embiid had 15 points and 5 assists. Anthony Edwards along with Jrue Holiday, Stephen Curry and Anthony Davis are the remaining names to reach the 10-point mark.
On the other side of the field, the German team was led by Franz Wagner (18 PTS, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) and shooter Andreas Obst (17 points, 5-11 3PT). Dennis Schroder did not finish well with 3-15 FG (13 PTS) but had 10 assists for his teammates.
The German team shot 13 successful 3-pointers compared to only 6 for the US, but they had a shooting rate of only 35.8% FG compared to 50% FG of LeBron James and his teammates.
With an unbeaten record through 5 friendly matches, the US team has the necessary “baggage” before the campaign to defend the throne at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
They will play their first group match against Nikola Jokic’s Serbia this weekend, then face Germany and South Sudan in the remaining two matches next week.
