Last time, it took a LeBron James driving layup for Team USA to escape South Sudan. That was last week in an exhibition game, when the Americans held on for a 101-100 win after surviving some close shots from South Sudan in the final 5 seconds.
It’s worth mentioning that the Americans were favored by 43 points in that game. This time, they’re favored by nearly 30. And this time it’s for the real thing, as tipoff takes place Wednesday at the Paris Olympics.
Team USA is coming off a dominant win over Serbia in the opener. South Sudan, which became a country in July 2011, beat Puerto Rico. So South Sudan is undefeated all-time in the Olympics (1-0).
The rematch will take place in Lile, France, in a soccer stadium. That may also work favorably for South Sudan, as the country doesn’t have an indoor basketball court.
Anyway, the Americans suggested they respect the South Sudanese and aim to be better prepared.
“Just take care of the ball,” Team USA guard Jrue Holiday said, via Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “They pressure the ball full court, and we also have that ability. But to be able to take care of the ball, execute the plays the way we want, we’ll be all right.”
Star guard Stephen Curry added it does indeed help having seen South Sudan already during exhibition play.
“I think more so it just challenges you to immensely prepare for a team that might not know a lot about ahead of time from a scouting-report standpoint to then make the necessary adjustments that we’re going to make to have a better showing against them,” Curry said, via Vardon. “(South Sudan has) a very high octane offense, (its players) spread the floor and shoot a lot of 3s and have athleticism. So you just got to be mindful of how to guard them.”
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