The USA began their Paris Olympics warm-up schedule with an 86-72 victory over Canada in Las Vegas<b> </b>on Wednesday ahead of <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/2024/04/18/lebron-james-heads-star-studded-usa-team-to-play-in-abu-dhabi-ahead-of-olympic-games/" target="_blank">flying out to the UAE for two further games</a> next week. LeBron James and Steph Curry made a winning start playing alongside each other for the first time as international teammates as the US recovered from an early 11-1 deficit to cruise to victory in their final game at home before Paris. The two NBA superstars are part of a formidable USA basketball roster that will be chasing a fifth consecutive gold medal when the Paris Olympics gets under way this month. The first starting line-up of the summer rolled out by US coach Steve Kerr included Curry, James, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker and Joel Embiid. The second unit sent out by the US – including Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum – was particularly impressive in a game played out in front of 20,756 people at the T-Mobile Arena, a stadium record for a basketball match. But before heading to France, they will be flying to Abu Dhabi on Thursday for a few days of practice and two more exhibition matches at Yas Island’s Etihad Arena against Australia on July 15 and Serbia on July 17 where they will be aiming to iron out the kinks of a squad still getting to know each other. “We know we can be a lot better but we've only been together four days,” James said after Wednesday's win when former US President Barack Obama was among the crowd. “All the miscues offensively, and the turnovers. We'll get better with that – but it starts on the defensive end. As long as we defend we'll give ourselves a good chance to win every night.” Curry agreed that defence would be the key to their Olympics campaign. “We can work out the kinks and the timing on offence, but if we compete like that and commit to playing defence, we'll be fine against anybody,” Curry said. "This is always a fun format when you get this collection of guys together. It's a test and a challenge to try to figure out the chemistry, just the flow and the rhythm.” James, the NBA's all-time leading points scorer, said he had enjoyed joining forces with Golden State star Curry. “We're just two guys who love to play the game of basketball,” James said. “It's fun. We play the game at a high level but more importantly, we just play the game that we love the right way.” Curry said winning a fifth consecutive gold would be a team effort. “We just want to win gold, whatever that takes,” Curry said. “No matter what your stats are, no matter how many minutes you play – if everybody on the floor commits to just doing what you're asked to do, we'll be good.”
