Last night, Team USA traveled to London to play their final two exhibition games before the Olympics began. However, things did not go as planned, as the Americans were down by 14 points at halftime to a far less talented South Sudan squad.
As reality began to set in that Team USA could lose to a team featuring only one active NBA player, a miraculous comeback began. Still down by double digits with less than three minutes left in the third quarter, Team USA went on a 16-0 run. Though Team USA features a dozen superstar players, the team's oldest member, LeBron James, led the comeback. Still down eight with two minutes in the third quarter, Jrue Holiday pokes the ball loose from South Sudan's Majok Deng. Deng sees the ball head toward the sidelines and slowly follows behind, believing no one will get it before it rolls out of bounds. What Deng doesn't see is Jrue Holiday slithering behind him and leaping in the air to grab the ball. While suspended in mid-air, well out of bounds, Holliday flings the ball in bounds to LeBron James. James catches the ball in stride and, with three dribbles, outsprints three South Sudan players. After his third dribble, James leaves his feet in front of the restricted area and flies to the hoop, slamming it down with a monstrous side-arm tomahawk jam. During this dunk that would've won this year's dunk contests, James was also met with contact and rewarded with a free throw afterward. This play erupted the crowd and gained much-needed momentum for Team USA.
A few possessions later, with around thirty seconds to go in the third, we see another spectacular play. Team USA inbounds the ball underneath South Sudan's basket. James lobs it to the big man Joel Embiid on the inbound pass. South Sudan, however, tips the pass to mid-court, where it looks like it'll lead to an easy, fast break bucket. Luckily for the U.S., the ball is miraculously saved by Steph Curry, who hustles in front of JT Thor to grab the ball. When Curry maintains possession, there are still fifteen seconds left on the shot clock and plenty of time to dial up a play. Despite this, Curry takes one step forward and launches the ball over thirty feet, which lands at the bottom of the net. The
crowd erupts again, and Team USA exits the third quarter with a five-point lead and a 16-0 run.
Team USA outscored South Sudan 37-18 in the third quarter, and most believed this trend would continue in the fourth. However, with twenty-five seconds left in the game, South Sudan had the ball and only trailed the U.S. by two points. The only active NBA player on the South Sudan roster is JT Thor. Thor is a twenty-one-year-old forward who plays for the Charlotte Hornets. He averaged three points per game last season and is now playing against some of the greatest players of all time with a chance to take the lead. JT Thor dribbles the ball to the corner and is met by LeBron James. JT Thor hesitates, then fires back from behind the three-point arc. James reads the move perfectly and contests the shot heavily, putting his right hand directly in front of Thor's vision. As the ball is in the air, the broadcast announcer cries, "Who wants to be a hero!?" The ball then swishes at the bottom of the net. South Sudan 100, USA 99.
With a team as star-studded as this USA team, it will always be a question of who will take the final shot with the game on the line. From the greatest shooter of all time, Steph Curry, to reigning NBA Champion Jayson Tatum, you can't go wrong. But at this moment, there was no hesitation or questioning about who would get the last shot. The answer was clear. The player whom this all-star team trusted was the twenty-two-year vet who was nearing forty years old. To Team USA, there was no player to trust now other than The King, LeBron James.
Curry, on the inbound, passes the ball to The King. James, showing no urgency, slowly jogs the ball down the left side of the court. The man in front of him, JT Thor. LeBron dribbles a couple of times between the legs and then explodes to his left. Thor stands six feet ten inches with a wingspan of seven feet three inches. Unfortunately for Thor, he is outweighed by James by fifty pounds, and when LeBron lowered his shoulder, his height advantage was meaningless. As James drove in towards the hoop, he quickly passed by Thor and finished the right-handed layup to win the game 101-100.
Though this exhilarating game ended in a USA victory, many concerns are beginning to rise. A team as hyped as this should not have shoot-out battles with South Sudan. This left many fans and critics wondering if this team was overhyped. One unexpected critic is Team USA center Joel Embiid. Yesterday, Embiid was interviewed by the New York Times and expressed his concerns about the team. Embiid stated, "You look at the talent that the U.S. has, but there's equal talent on other teams." This statement coincides with the last seven NBA MVPs being non-American-born players. Embiid then says, "The talent that's on the U.S. team, you also got to understand most of those guys are older. The LeBron now is not the LeBron that was a couple of years ago. So there's a big difference." Embiid continues to go on about how LeBron is not the same player he was a few years ago and is not at the same level of dominance he once was.
Though harsh, Embiid may have a valid point here. Most of the key players on the team are well over the age of thirty. Four of arguably its best players are over the age of thirty-four. So, even though the names still have value, it may be unrealistic to expect these seasoned veterans to be able to perform as well as they did in their twenties.
So, even though this lineup, name-wise, could compete with the likes of the dream team, we should not hold this squad to the same expectations. Age always catches up with us all, and it catches up quicker in athletics. For instance, thirty-five-year-old Kevin Durant hasn't played since the team formed. Durant has been nursing a calf injury and is expected to play once the Olympics start, but it wouldn't be surprising if some other older players begin to feel the wear and tear of their age shortly.
The world is not the same anymore; basketball is not a sport only American players can dominate. Every year, we see more and more of this fact when a new European player rises and dominates the NBA out of the gates. The new foreign players today are more skilled than ever and extremely tall. This past year, we saw how quickly rookie Victor Wembanyama rose from French phenom to NBA Rookie of the Year and DPOY runner-up.
Though Joel Embiid's harsh quotes may have validity, the world should still expect the U.S. to bring home gold this summer. Even though Team USA has many older players out of their prime, the squad still features young talent. NBA All-Stars Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, and Bam Adebayo are all in their twenties. Anthony Edwards is only twenty-two years old and has already proven to the world that he can lead this USA team when his number is called. So the future is bright, and with the Olympics rapidly approaching, we should expect to see more young talent shine.
However, there is one thing that we can criticize about Joel Embiid's comments. He's dead wrong about how aging affects one player. Five months out from his fortieth birthday, LeBron James is nowhere near declining. Last night, he dropped twenty-three points, six rebounds, and six assists, showing the world that if the U.S. wins gold, he will be the reason why.
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