James, Curry post winning start

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — LeBron James and Stephen Curry made a winning start as USA teammates in an 86-72 victory over Canada in a pre-Olympics exhibition game in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

The two National Basketball Association (NBA) superstars are part of a formidable USA basketball roster that will be chasing a fifth consecutive gold medal when the Paris Olympics get under way this month.

James and Curry are playing alongside each other for the first time as international teammates and showed glimpses of a near telepathic understanding during Wednesday’s game.

Curry finished with 12 points while James had seven as the US recovered from an early 11-1 deficit to cruise to victory in their final game at home before Paris.

They decamp to the United Arab Emirates for exhibition games against Australia and Serbia next week.

Los Angeles Lakers ace James gathered the USA team for a huddle following a win which suggested the Americans will, unsurprisingly, be red hot favorites for the gold in France.

“We know we can be a lot better but we’ve only been together four days,” James said afterwards.

“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 defense would be the key to the Olympic campaign.

“We can work out the kinks and the timing on offense, but if we compete like that and commit to playing defense, we’ll be fine against anybody,” Curry said.

James, the NBA’s all-time leading points scorer, meanwhile, said he had enjoyed joining forces with Golden State star Curry.