LeBron James came up clutch for Team USA with 20 points and the two biggest buckets of the game in a 92-88 win over Germany in London on Monday.
James played savior again on a catch-and-shoot 3 from the right wing to boost the Team USA edge to 90-86, then isolated in a one-on-four situation working through four defenders to find room for a soft lay-in right of the basket to push his point total to 20 and put Germany in a 92-86 hole with less than a minute to play.
Germany led 71-68 at the end of three quarters and the game was tied at 75 with 6:07 left in the fourth quarter. Franz Wagner led Germany with 18 points and Dennis Schroder, who heard MVP chants from the sellout crowd, had 13 points and 10 assists. The United States went 5-0 in the exhibition schedule and begins pool play in the Paris Games on Sunday against Serbia.
Wagner challenged James at the rim with just over two minutes to go and drew a foul. He made two free throws to cut the lead to three points and Dennis Shroder’s lob made it a one-point game before James drained the 3. After a rescue mission that included the game-winner to sink South Sudan in a 101-100 exhibition win on Saturday, James made 8 of his 11 shot attempts, including a double-clutch reverse slam for the first basket of the game by either team. He added six rebounds and four assists. Joel Embiid had 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Team USA.
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