Team USA thriving with Steph-LeBron connection

LONDON — There has been a lot of attention given this spring and summer as to whether LeBron James and Stephen Curry, who play on former title teams that appear to be past their primes, are truly finished competing for championships.

They are not.

They are about to compete for a major championship and will do so in a one-off and historic experience.

Of everything the two future first-ballot Hall of Famers have accomplished — eight championships, six Most Valuable Player Awards, five Finals MVPs, the all-time scoring title and all-time 3-point title — winning a gold medal together for Team USA is the rare novel achievement both can chase.

And they are truly doing it together.

Team USA coach Steve Kerr made it clear Wednesday night after his team impressively dismantled Serbia, one of their prime rivals in the upcoming Paris Olympics, that James and Curry are going to be chasing this piece of gold — perhaps the third and last for James, and potentially the first for Curry — side-by-side.

Kerr is committed not only to starting them but keeping them largely playing next to each other.

“I like those guys together,” Kerr said, also noting that he plans on keeping Joel Embiid as the starting center with James and Curry including Saturday’s exhibition against South Sudan at O2 Arena (3 p.m. ET).

“Steph and LeBron are kind of learning how to play together and they’re getting a better feel for each other.”

In the opening seconds of Wednesday’s 105-79 victory against Serbia, James started a chain of ball movement that led to a Curry 3-pointer. It was the beginning of Curry’s most impressive burst of scoring this summer as he drilled four 3-pointers and scored 18 points in a sprint over 11 minutes in the first half and ended the game with 24. He’d gone just 1-of-6 shooting in the previous exhibition game against Australia.

“Obviously we drew [the play] up for that particular reason to get him going,” James, who had 11 points and two assists that led to Curry 3-pointers, explained.

“He sees one go through the hoop, you see where it opens up for the rest of his game, for the rest of the game for all of us.”

“Actually, it wasn’t [a play for me],” Curry said, correcting James. “It’s a play that has multiple options and we just kind of read what the defense does.”

So, yeah, still getting on the same page. Curry will learn that agreeing in the media with James, especially when he’s talking about setting him up for success, is a wise strategy.

Overall, though, James has been enjoying the experience.

“It’s been amazing,” James said Friday as the team went through practice in the U.K. capital.

These two megastars are undoubtedly going to be at the core of Team USA’s attempt to win a fifth straight gold medal. Over the three warmup games, Kerr frequently had James on the ball at the offensive end with Curry operating off of it. Sometimes Kerr will have another ball handler, whether it’s Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards or Jayson Tatum, with the ball while James and Curry run actions together off the ball to free each other.

Asking any opposing team in history to manage the challenge of defending a two-man game with Curry and James is a monumental challenge. And Team USA is working on putting its opponents in that position as much as possible.

They’ve had exactly two weeks and only a few dozen minutes of game action doing it, leading to some growing pains and a few turnovers, but the rationale and the effort to put it together are obvious.

Kerr has 10 years of experience working with Curry with the Golden State Warriors but has coached against James in five playoff series including four consecutive Finals from 2014-18. The challenge of getting the best out of them playing together and learning what it’s like to coach James has been invigorating.

“I’m just blown away by LeBron’s effort and concentration and focus,” Kerr said. “On every single drill he talks. He’s even in a shootaround walkthrough his voice behind the play, yelling out what’s happening, yelling out the scheme, his leadership by example. The guy is incredible and I mean I’ve known that forever, but to see it up close is pretty special.”

Kerr has moved his lineups around, changing starters a little every game. He has been committed to making five-man lineup changes during the game to take advantage of the team’s depth. But the James-Curry combination becoming a weapon is one of the things that is etched on his lineup card, and that’s expected to remain the case as the exhibition tour moves to London for games against South Sudan and Germany (Monday, 3 p.m. ET).

And Curry and James are also investing in Embiid, who is off to a sluggish start. He’s shooting just 7-of-19 over three exhibition games as he tries to round into form as he recovers from a knee injury. But Curry and James are there, passing up their opportunities to repeatedly feed the ball to Embiid. It’s a central part of the game plan to get their center into form ahead of the Paris Olympics, which tip off July 27 (Team USA’s first game is a day later).

It’s just one of many projects the two former fierce rivals turned amicable thirtysomethings now find themselves invested in this never-before-seen summer.

“I’m having the time of my life,” Embiid said. “I don’t have to do anything, so I’m happy just chilling, just hanging out, doing the little things and then just play together with them.”