Team USA takeaways: LeBron James makes game-winner, United States survives scare vs. South Sudan in exhibition

James scored 23 points and the United States (barely) overcame poor 3-point shooting on Saturday

By James Herbert Jul 21, 2024 at 12:34 am ET• 4 min read

Team USA escaped O2 Arena in London with a 101-100 win over South Sudan in an exhibition game on Saturday. LeBron James made what turned out to be the game-winning layup with eight seconds left and finished with a team-high 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting, six rebounds and seven assists in 23 minutes.

Here's the game-winner:

LEBRON JAMES WINS IT FOR #USABMNT ‼️ pic.twitter.com/IHdQBZVB87

— NBA (@NBA) July 20, 2024

South Sudan led by 14 points at halftime, took a one-point lead late in the fourth quarter and had a chance to win on the final possession. In the last few seconds, Carlik Jones missed a floater, Wenyen Gabriel missed an attempted putback and Anthony Edwards stripped the ball from Gabriel, allowing the United States to hold on.

Jones, the 2023 NBA G League MVP, had a 15-point, 11-assist, 11-rebound triple-double for South Sudan. Marial Shayok scored a game-high 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting, including 6-for-12 from deep.

The United States (barely) overcame a massive disparity beyond the arc. South Sudan made 14 of their 33 3-point attempts (42.4%), while Team USA went 7-for-28 (25%) and missed 12 of their first 15 attempts.