NEAR SHOCK TIMELY REMINDER FOR U.S.

James rescues them in narrow Olympic warmup win over amazing’ South Sudan

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It was unthinkable that a team full of National Basketball Association (NBA) stars could lose to an unheralded African side, but coach Steve Kerr has warned that anything is possible if they do not play at their best.

South Sudan's basketball team nearly delivered a stunning upset on a United States line-up of bigname players on July 20, before narrowly losing 101-100 in a Paris Olympics warmup game.

LeBron James, 39 and the alltime NBA scoring leader, registered a game-high 25 points, which included the deciding points on a driving lay-up with eight seconds remaining at the 02 Arena in London.

Their East African opponents, who led 58-44 at half-time, took a late lead after an 8-0 scoring run and were poised to pull off one of the greatest shocks in international basketball before the Los Angeles Lakers star saved the day.

"The ending was good for us just to feel that, to feel what it's going to feel like in Paris," Kerr said.