Team USA men's basketball survives another scare and beats Germany in final Olympic tuneup before Paris

Team USA men's basketball survived another major scare on Monday in London as LeBron James and Co. narrowly beat Germany in their final warmup game before Paris.

Thanks to James scoring Team USA's final 11 points, the Americans won 92-88 just days after the Olympic favorite's narrow 101-100 win over fledgling South Sudan over the weekend.

The team will begin its Olympic tournament vs. Serbia on June 28th in their first group stage game.

According to BetMGM Sportsbook, the US was favored on Monday by 15.5 points over the reigning World Cup champions and team that beat the Americans in that tournament's semifinals a year ago in Manila. 

Of course, that was of no relevance Saturday, when the US was 43.5-point favorites against South Sudan. 

James scored the final 11 points for the Americans down the stretch, and the four-time reigning Olympic gold medalists held off World Cup champion Germany 92-88 in London on Monday night in their final tune-up before the Paris Games start later this week.

Announced earlier in the day as the male flagbearer for the Americans in Friday night's opening ceremony down the River Seine - the female flagbearer will be revealed Tuesday - James came through time and time again down the stretch, just as he did over the weekend when his layup with 8 seconds left gave the US a 101-100 win over upstart South Sudan.

James had 20 points for the US, while Joel Embiid scored 15, Stephen Curry had 13 and Anthony Edwards finished with 11.

Franz Wagner led Germany with 18 points. Andreas Obst - the hero of last year´s German win over the US in the World Cup semifinals - had 14, while Dennis Schroder had a 13-point, 10-assist night. Daniel Theis added 13 for Germany and Moritz Wagner scored 12.

The Americans finished their exhibition slate 5-0, but there was only one game that was a true cakewalk. That was against Serbia, the team that'll face the US on Sunday in the first Olympic game this summer for both teams.

Canada gave the US issues at times, Australia came from way back to make things interesting at the end, South Sudan nearly pulled off an upset as a 43.5-point underdog and the Germans had the lead over the US with 4 minutes left on Monday.

Then it was James' time. He outscored Germany 11-6 by himself in the final 3:57.

And now, Paris awaits. The games start for real this weekend.

For the second consecutive game, the US got outscored by 21 points from 3-point range. And it nearly burned the Americans again.

Germany was 13 for 45 from beyond the arc, the US was 6 for 17, and that´s a 39-18 difference in points from deep.

South Sudan outscored the US 42-21 from deep on Saturday.

Also not helping the US cause on Monday: it had 14 turnovers to Germany´s seven.

Theis had 26 points, while Schroder and Obst had 24 apiece in Germany´s 113-111 win over the US in the World Cup at Manila a year ago.

That trio was fantastic again Monday, combining for 40 points.

It should be noted that the loss to Germany last year was about when some players - James, for example - started seriously thinking about joining the US program for this run to the Paris Games.

Kevin Durant got some pregame shots up again, just as he did Saturday in London. And, again, that was the extent of his game-night action.

The three-time gold medalist did not play while he continues to recover from the calf strain he suffered a few days before the US convened for training camp in Las Vegas.

Durant missed all five pre-Olympic games exhibitions, though he did practice this past weekend. He has not appeared in a real game since late April, when Phoenix was swept in a first-round NBA playoff series by Minnesota.