LeBron James Scores Final 11 Points in US Victory Over Germany: Pre-Olympic Tour Wrap-Up

In their last practice before the Paris Games begin later this week, the four-time defending Olympic gold medalists defeated Germany 92-88 in London on Monday night. James scored the final 11 points for the Americans down the line.

James, who was named earlier in the day as the American team’s male flagbearer for Friday night’s opening ceremony down the Seine River (the female flagbearer will be unveiled on Tuesday), performed admirably down the stretch, just as he did over the weekend when his layup with eight seconds remaining gave the Americans a 101-100 victory over South Sudan, a newcomer.

For the United States, James finished with 20 points, Joel Embiid with 15, Stephen Curry with 13, and Anthony Edwards with 11.

Franz Wagner scored 18 points to lead Germany. Dennis Schroder finished with 13 points and 10 assists, while Andreas Obst, the hero of Germany’s victory over the United States in the World Cup semifinals the previous year, finished with 14. Moritz Wagner scored 12 points, and Daniel Theis added 13 for Germany.

The USA concluded their exhibition schedule with a perfect 5-0 record, but just one match was a complete snoozer. That was against Serbia, who the United States will play in their first Olympic game of the summer on Sunday.

Canada occasionally caused problems for the United States, Australia rallied to make the game exciting in the end, South Sudan came dangerously close to pulling off an upset as a 43.5-point underdog, and with 4 minutes remaining on Monday, the Germans led the United States.

James’ turn came next. In the last 3:57, he outscored Germany 11–6 on his own. Now, Paris is in wait. This weekend is when the real games begin.

The United States was outscored by 21 points from 3-point range for the second straight game. And it almost burned the Americans down once more.

Germany scored 39–18 more points from deep than the United States did (6–17), with Germany going 13–45 from beyond the arc. On Saturday, South Sudan beat the United States 42–21 from a distance. The United States’ 14 turnovers compared to Germany’s 7 on Monday did little to aid their cause.

In the World Cup in Manila last year, Germany defeated the United States 113-111, with Theis scoring 26 points and Schroder and Obst scoring 24 each.

Also Read: LeBron James Leads USA to Narrow Victory Over South Sudan in Paris Olympic 2024 Warm-Up

With 40 points between them on Monday, that trio was outstanding once more. It should be mentioned that several players, like James, began to give the idea of joining the American program for this run to the Paris Games significant thought around the time of the team’s defeat to Germany in the previous year.

Kevin Durant, who was in London on Saturday, posted some pregame photos once more. And once more, it was all he did that evening.

The three-time gold medallist did not compete because he is still healing from a calf strain he sustained just before the United States team arrived in Las Vegas for training camp.

Durant did practice this past weekend, but he did not attend any of the five exhibitions leading up to the Olympics. He hasn’t played in a real game since Phoenix was defeated by Minnesota in a first-round NBA playoff series in late April.