This time Team USA was fully focused.
And fully dominant.
After nearly suffering a humbling exhibition loss to South Sudan less than two weeks ago, the African upstarts had Team USA’s full attention in Wednesday’s rematch.
The result was a professional-looking 103-86 Group C victory in Lille, France, that saw the U.S. through to the quarterfinals.
LeBron James had a dozen points, six rebounds and five assists, albeit a half-dozen turnovers. In a second straight game off the bench, Kevin Durant added 14 points in a dominant effort by the reserves.
With center Joel Embiid taking a DNP, Bam Adebayo got extended playing time and finished with a team-high 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting, including seven boards and two blocks.
His mobility on defense helped Team USA hold South Sudan to 42.1 percent shooting, a vast improvement over their July 20 meeting.
“The defensive effort was the key to the whole thing,” coach Steve Kerr said. “That’s an explosive team — they shoot 3s, they’re fast, they can get past you. Our guys did a really good job of keeping them in front and forcing tough shots.”
Kerr’s matchup calls paid off, benching Embiid for Anthony Davis.
It helped counter South Sudan — coached by New York native Royal Ivey, a former Nets and Knicks assistant — which relies on an athletic lineup with bigs who space the floor.
Without a single current NBA player on the roster or even an indoor court in the whole country, South Sudan had drilled 14 3-pointers on July 20 in London, when Team USA trailed by 16 and needed a James drive with eight seconds left to pull off a 101-100 escape.
Embiid had been drawn out from the paint in that game by South Sudanese bigs who can actually shoot, and Team USA struggled.
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This time he never got off the bench, while Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton made their Olympic debuts in a wing-heavy game plan.
It worked.
This time there was no escape needed.
The loaded bench — led by Durant and Adebayo — poured in 40 of Team USA’s 55 points in the first half. They outscored South Sudan’s bench 66-14 overall, and powered two runs that effectively blew the game open.
Durant checked into the game and his foul shot with 3:29 left in the first quarter sparked a 16-4 run to close the period.
Team USA took a 26-14 lead, and never let it get within single digits the rest of the contest.
Bringing the likes of Durant, Adebayo, Jrue Holiday, Anthony Edwards and Derrick White off the bench, the blitz extended to 23-4 spanning the first and second quarters.
Adebayo had 14 at the break on perfect 6 of 6 shooting, finished with the highest scoring game of his Olympic career and used his mobility to counter South Sudan’s floor-spacing bigs.
“I think being able to switch 1 through 5, being able to guard all positions, that makes me more versatile,” Adebayo said. “Being able to space the floor and obviously doing all the in-between things, like being point-center just gives us a more diverse team.”
Team USA handed out 29 assists and notched 13 steals, and closes group play Saturday against Puerto Rico.
South Sudan has been a surprise story in international basketball under Ivey and federation president Luol Deng.
The pair were teammates at Blair Academy in New Jersey, and have South Sudan in striking distance of the knockout stages.
They played well under Ivey and still can advance depending on their result against Serbia and Nikola Jokic.
Forward Nuni Omot — who was born in a refugee camp, and once went to summer league with the Nets — led South Sudan with 24.
“At the end of the day, I just want to win. I’m here to win and win the gold,” James said.
“We’ve got 12 guys that can go out and get the job done any given night. The second lineup came in and did that tonight for us. Defensively that’s where it started, then offensively they were great as well.”
