With dad LeBron courtside, Bronny James scores 11 points in Team USA win at Nike Hoop Summit
PORTLAND, Ore. – With dad LeBron James watching courtside at the Moda Center, Bronny James scored 11 points Saturday at the Nike Hoop Summit, hitting a couple key shots late and helping Team USA pull out a 90-84 win. He also chipped in four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.
Mom Savannah and little sister Zhuri were also in attendance watching Bronny, who struggled some in the first half of his USA Basketball debut. He shot 2-for-5 from the field in the first half, including two airballs from 3.
At halftime, Bronny walked over to dad to get some advice, and LeBron broke down for him how to better attack the rim. (The Lakers were off Saturday, which allowed LeBron to attend in person.)
Bronny said LeBron told him to, “keep playing my game. He knows what I’m capable of, and … he wants to see it out of me.”
Bronny James played sparingly in the second half, but when he went in midway through the fourth quarter his play helped the Americans maintain a slim lead and eventually pull out the win.
He hit a big 3 with 4:51 to play that gave the USA a six-point lead, then forced a turnover at the other end.
“I like to play defense as hard as I can,” he said. “It always makes the coach happy. I really take pride in playing defense and I feel like all the next level coaches take that into consideration when they’re recruiting me.”
A couple minutes later he scored a bucket inside after the World team had cut the Americans’ lead to three.
“I always try to stay confident in myself, even if I’m missing shots at the beginning of the game,” James said. “I try to keep my head up and keep playing my game because I know good things are going to come.”
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