Who would have thought a few weeks ago that the men's basketball game between the United States and South Sudan on Wednesday night would be one of the most important games of the Paris Olympics?!
All it took was for the 12-year-old African nation's men's basketball team (one of the world's poorest countries) to lead 100-99 against the Yankees, nicknamed the Dream Team II, in a warm-up game in London just days before the Olympics. It took a brave LeBron James basket to avoid embarrassment.
Since then, the African nation's team has beaten top-seeded Puerto Rico 90-79 in the first round of the Olympic tournament, and will face the United States at 9 p.m. Wednesday — for the second time in a week.
In the Americans' camp, they are preparing with the utmost caution against an opponent who has never been underestimated, so much so that they have introduced a new technical term, the concept of appropriate fear. Two days ago, the Yankees fell 110-84. Nicola Jokes Serbia led with a great shooting performance from Kevin Durant, who scored 23 points, but based on the principle that fear is better than fear, they now have enough respect against South Sudan.
“We have the necessary fear,” said Steve Kerr, the head coach of Team USA. “We know that we can't go into a game in a static position, and we can't believe that victory is going to happen on its own.”
In both cases, the Americans have a big chance against the Shining Stars (Fényes Csillagos, that's the nickname for South Sudan), and the bookmakers are predicting a 29.5-point win for Durant's team. (Of course, there are no half-points in basketball.) And of course, on July 20, when they managed to beat the Africans by just one point, the paper version of the Bucks had an American success by 40 points.
“We beat them in one ball game,” Kerr continued. “I’m glad we got to play them, so at least we got to see firsthand how good they are at shooting threes and how fast they are.”
Sure enough, the Americans hit 14 three-pointers in the warm-up game in London.
Interestingly, South Sudan does not have a current NBA player. Their best is Marial Shayok, a 6’1″ (198cm) former Philadelphia 76ers player who scored 24 points for the Americans in that particular encounter in London. But the name of Wenin Gabriel, a 6’7″ (206cm) tall man, is also well known, currently playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv, but has played for six NBA teams in the past, including the Los Angeles Lakers. And 6’1″ (185cm) coach Carlik Jones recently signed with Serbian superstar FK Partizan Beograd, but has also visited the Chicago Bulls. Jones has now notched a triple-double (15 points, 11-11 rebounds and an assist) against Team USA on July 20!
By the way, South Sudan national team Lol DingFounded by the former Bulls star a few years ago, the group has been growing rapidly ever since.
