Basketball: US tested, Spain fall to Russia

LONDON: LeBron James silenced stubborn Lithuania to lift the unbeaten US NBA Dream Team into the Olympic medal playoffs while Russia edged Spain 77-74 to secure a top seeding in next week’s quarter-finals. James, seeking his second gold medal in his third Olympic appearance, scored nine of his 20 points in a 12-2 US run in the final minutes as the Americans beat Lithuania 99-94. “I feel like it was my time to step up offensively,” said James. “Facing some adversity like this, being down in the fourth quarter, a lot of teams would not have been able to get through that no matter what type of talent you have. But we were communicating throughout the game during timeouts and on the floor. Our camaraderie is really good. Our team chemistry is really good.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2012.