LeBron James led Team USA from the front, helping them open their Olympic win with an emphatic 110-84 win over Nikola Jokic and the Serbian national team. James reacted to Team USA’s performance after the win, making it clear that they still have room for improvement and that fans should expect to see that when they face South Sudan in their next game.
“We gotta get better with our turnovers. Obviously, we’re trying to make the right play, so you can never exclude that. But some of the careless turnovers that we had, we could give ourselves even more possessions offensively, and we’ll be even better coming up on Wednesday.”
“We’ll be better coming up on Wednesday.”
LeBron James says Team USA can still improve after a dominant win in their #ParisOlympics opener.
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/bMiyV5lLaL
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2024
LeBron had a fantastic performance, putting up 21 points (9-13 FG) along with seven rebounds and nine assists in 27 minutes, but he also did have six turnovers. James has identified the turnovers as a major issue for him and Team USA as a whole, as the team combined for 17 turnovers on a night where they won by 26 against a three-time MVP in his prime.
Jokic led Serbia with 20 points, five rebounds, eight assists, and four steals. He has a plus-minus of 0 (81-81), meaning the Serbian national team was outscored by 26 points (3-29) in the nine minutes Jokic was on the bench. The USA’s strength helped them to this victory, as they did have rough moments through stretches where Serbia just looked like a more cohesive unit.
LeBron’s incredible performance along with Kevin Durant‘s 24 points on 8-9 shooting carried them to the win. They can’t keep relying on their main stars to bail them out, so Team USA needs to add more cohesiveness to their game.
LeBron James Loves Playing Alongside Kevin Durant
LeBron did criticize his own and Team USA’s sloppy turnover-prone play in his interview but not before he gushed about playing alongside another veteran icon like Kevin Durant, who made his Team USA debut in 2024 after missing all five exhibition games due to a calf injury.
“I think we just bring out the best in one another. We’re very seasoned to the FIBA games. We’ve played a lot of international basketball when it comes to the Olympics and World Championships, so to have KD on our side, to have KD on my side, it’s a treat for sure. Everything that he does in practice is game speed. So when it translates out here, it’s no surprise.”
Durant is Team USA’s all-time leading scorer at the Olympics, with LeBron in third place. James is on track to overtake second-place Carmelo Anthony by the end of the 2024 Olympics, so we’re currently seeing the two greatest scorers in the national team’s history compete alongside each other.
James and Durant played in the 2012 London Olympics together, with Durant also scrimmaging against LeBron and the national team ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After being rivals on-court for the last 17 years, it’s good to see the pair having the chance to team up once again, alongside the third icon of this generation, Stephen Curry.
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