Despite Serbia’s victory, LeBron sees “much to improve” before the Olympics.

LeBron James said there is “so much room to improve” in the USA’s pursuit of Olympic gold, but he was happy with the team’s improvement in their 105-79 friendly victory over Serbia on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.

The US almost blew a 20-point lead in the last minutes of their tight victory over Australia on Monday, but against a Serbian team captained by Nikola Jokic, the stars and stripes were in dominant form.

After scoring just three points in the USA’s 98-92 victory over the Boomers, Stephen Curry took off on Wednesday, leading the squad in points scored with a game-high 24 points while going six for nine from outside the arc.

James stated of Curry, “We drew it up for that specific reason, to get him going.”

When he watches one go through the hoop, you can imagine the opportunities that presents for the remainder of his game and ours as well. He established the atmosphere, and all we could do was keep looking for him.

Bam Adebayo had a great night as well, scoring 17 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and dishing out 2 assists after coming off the bench.

With six rebounds, six blocks, and seven points, Anthony Davis and the Miami Heat center cooperated for a smooth defensive match.

According to US head coach Steve Kerr, “Bam and AD together are really something.”

“Just the swapping, but if we go to that coverage, they may also shield the rim and be in a drop.

“I felt that really set a tone for us when they combined with the ball pressure that Book was putting on their point guard.”

Tuesday’s defeat by Australia meant that Serbia was again without their starting guard, Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks, who was benched.

The reigning NBA MVP Jokic recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but it was insufficient to stop the formidable Americans. On July 28, they will play again in Lille, France, for their Olympic debut.

“We still have a lot of potential for improvement, but we want to keep improving and seizing the chance. This summer, James, who is vying for his third Olympic gold medal, stated, “I felt like tonight we got better.”

“Depth is a team’s strength.”
With Jrue Holiday starting in place of Anthony Edwards, Kerr made one alteration to the starting lineup he used against Australia two days prior, leaving Jayson Tatum, James, Joel Embiid, and Curry on the court.

Before Serbia ramped up the tempo and took an early 12-9 lead thanks to back-to-back three-pointers from Aleksa Avramovic, Curry scored nine points in the first two minutes.

During these exhibition games, Kerr stuck to his trend of substituting players for hockey players. He replaced all five starters halfway through the first quarter with Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, Davis, Adebayo, and Devin Booker.

With 38 seconds remaining, Edwards went four for four from the free throw line to give USA the lead back. However, Vanja Marinkovic had other ideas. He ensured that both sides finished the first quarter on equal footing with a buzzer-beating layup.

The USA gained momentum behind the plays of Curry, Edwards, and Adebayo, and they would never trail after that first quarter.

Kerr is content with the approach he has been using thus far, which involves replacing each of the five starters with a brand-new second unit every five minutes of play.

“I believe that our depth defines our identity as a team, and it is our strength,” Kerr remarked.

Therefore, it makes sense to play that manner if we can play in four- or five-minute spurts of just playing physical defense, hitting bodies, and grabbing rebounds.

“We’ll see if we continue doing that, but for now, it’s allowed groups to come together. Steph and LeBron, for instance, and AD and Bam have been able to kind of learn how to play together and get to know one another better.

Our team’s strength is in its depth, so if that’s how we have to play, we will.

The United States of America will next travel to London, where they will play two final exhibition matches against South Sudan on Saturday and Germany, the defending world champions, on Monday.