LeBron James was on fire yet again, as the US Basketball Olympics team managed to escape the FIBA World Champions Germany in a tightly contested match.
James scored eight vital points and wrapped them around steals, rebounds, and general epic force to lead Team USA to a 92-88 victory.
He finished with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists, but the statistics are hardly representative of his impact.
In the fourth quarter, the veteran went on a basket-steal-basket-rebound-free throws-rebound run, while his teammates ran around the court.
“We got a great group of guys and it doesn’t matter if it’s me, Joel [Embiid], Steph [Curry] or when [Kevin Durant] comes back,” James said.
“Everybody going to have a moment and that’s what the team is all about. We all root for one another no matter how the game is going.”
After going 3-of-3 shooting in the fourth quarter against South Sudan on Saturday, including the game-winning basket with eight seconds remaining, LeBron has gone 4-of-4 as he scored the last 11 points for Team USA.
Team USA finishes the pre-Olympic tour with an imperfect 5-0. Embiid had 15 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
“People who watch me know that every season it takes me a couple of games to get going, and this is no different,” Embiid said.
“That’s the reason we’ve got preseason games. I feel like myself and I’m going to keep going and I’m going to be playing at that MVP level I’ve played for the last five or six seasons.”
Curry had 13 points for Team USA but was just 1-of-7 on 3-pointers as the U.S. struggled from deep, shooting just 29%.
Team USA had issues with allowing dribble penetration, which led to kick-out 3-pointers in the near disaster against South Sudan on Saturday.
Germany on the other hand seemed to have better coordination. All the players on the team could should a 3-pointer.
The Germans struggled at times to generate clean looks and attempted more end-of-shot-clock 3-pointers than triples out of their offense.