A vintage LeBron saved a worried Team USA against Germany

At the age of 39, without anything to prove to anyone, without having to put himself in danger, LeBron James has proven once again that his eternal youth – in the FIBA ​​game​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​,​​​​​​ again again, is his eternal youth – literally and figuratively. untouchable With 11 of his 20 points in the final quarter, The King rose in a rebellion with the youth to save Team USA’s wounded American pride against the very team that made its biggest impact last year, the world champion and competitive Germany (92 -88).

The German team, which eliminated the United States from the World Cup, was ahead in many moments, but the most antique LeBron exploded to prevent the alarms from ringing in the last game in preparation for the Games, but not to ease worries. of the favorite for gold, far from being untouchable like the Lakers star’s infinity.

An improved Joel Embiid (15 points) and Stephen Curry (13) supported The King, while Franz Wagner (18) and Andreas Obst (17) led a chorus of German teams losing by more than 10 points in second quarter and trailed 36-27 at halftime.

Instigator of this remake of the Dream Team with his call for first-rate stars to restore the United States to the world throne after failures in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, LeBron saw how not even the best of the best in the world The leading basketball power globe is no longer enough to win enough. And Germany, the perpetrator of this 2.0 version of the Dream Team after Beijing 2008, is the most accurate thermometer to measure the superiority of Team USA at its peak with its constellation of NBA stars. If not at this moment, yes, Kevin Durant who missed the entire preparation due to a calf injury that aggravated his case.

The American team lost with its B team in the semifinals of a World Cup where it was left empty handed (113-111), the close result was confirmation that the gap between the United States and the rest of the world is closing . Team USA, with five consecutive Olympic golds since 2008, remains the best and counts their five warm-up friendlies through victories. But there was the tough victory over Australia (98-92) and the long-suffering victory over South Sudan that also required intervention from LeBron (101-100). The Africans will be Team USA’s rivals along with Nikola Jokic’s Serbia and Jose Alvarado’s Puerto Rico.

It could be said that the American team is not at its peak yet – especially with a group of players many of whom have no experience playing together – but none of Team USA’s rivals have put in all their tactics either. resource when it comes to friendly people. In another sign that the basketball world is catching up, teams can come back from deficits of more than 10 points when that’s what the sentence means. This has been the case of Australia, South Sudan and Germany, each belonging to a different continent.

The clear superiority of the United States in individual talent is indisputable, but the individual wealth contrasts with the poverty of the Americans as a team compared to teams that stand alone as a collective like Germany, a perfect oil machine with a rich repertoire of slate plays and variants despite not having any top NBA stars. In a case that says it all and speaks to how different the realities of one basketball game are from another, World Cup MVP Dennis Schröder ended last year in no man’s land, on a Brooklyn Nets with more faces and eyes now with the appointment of Jordi Fernández as coach.

Steve Kerr repeated the South Sudan quintet with LeBron, Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker. The United States seemed to be in control at 29-17 in the first quarter and 36-27 at halftime, but a team with such great collective spirit as Germany pointed out the Americans’ flaws as did the team of Africa in both defense and attack where Team USA was orphaned in ball movement.

Kerr saw the ill effects of playing two centers at the same time like Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis. They give the quintet versatility to change everything in the blocks, but a very good team like the German dismantles the double ‘5’ with impressive ease, often finding mismatches inside the big pairings in small ones. If Kerr always likes to play with at least two point guards, the Adebayo and Davis formula doesn’t fit against teams like Germany who read advantages well.

In an example of coach Gordon Herbert’s tactical depth – surely only the tip of the iceberg – the German team used the same disposition to break down Team USA’s defense time and time again to hold on in the first half and then strike in the second. . With two big men with an outside threat like NBA players Daniel Theis and Moritz Wagner, one was positioned at the head and the other put a block for the curling movement of a player on the left wing part of the German attack.

The action contained two big players while gathering people on one side and then turning the ball over and looking for mismatches inside with help away. Wagner, Franz’s brother with the Orlando Magic, was the best off the German bench with 12 points.

Germany dominated the offensive rebounding in the second half and this, along with its various board plays, spun and began to worry Team USA, which allowed a 16-2 run at the start of the third quarter and lost 56-59 at the end of the third quarter. The lack of ball movement and too much one-on-one stalled the United States’ offense, which barely deployed a variety of plays with Curry on the court following the Warriors’ script. However, the master of triples only connected on 4/11 on shots and 1/6 on triples.

Ironically, Joel Embiid – so blocked in most of the preparation – was the key part that allowed Team USA to turn the tables in the final minutes. The collapse of the Cameroonian defense, which is often problematic, this time helped Kerr’s team to settle down, which was established near a painting that was already tired when Germany entered. Dennis Schröder accumulated shot failures when blocking the pick and roll – 13 points and 9 assists but 4/15 on field goals -, and Embiid also contributed on offense, with points and being a key accomplice for LeBron in its blockages.

The King, even rolling around like a child on the ground in the mud of the FIBA​​​​​​game, asked for a way and played solo with the courage and strength of LeBron James from the 2012 London Olympic Games, who appeared to be LeBron in his prime that came from wearing your first ring. Loud screams of ferocity from the ‘King’, the entire Team USA celebrating wildly and the staff throwing themselves on the ground to fight following LeBron’s exemplary example like a pure NBA playoff game to win a friendly. This is the new reality for the United States in a developing world. As Steve Kerr said, “it’s not 1992 anymore.”