Champ06

USA team played poorly starting from 3rd quarter scoring only 18pts. Brazil close in on USA with a score of 31pts. In the 4th quarter, it was a tussle back and fro until the very last minutes. Poor FTs and shootings nearly cost USA Team the game. Brazil defense was great and USA had to settle for outside jumpers. This is definitely not a Dream Team.

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pirc1

Even though US won this game, it shows that the US team is not that much stronger than the other top teams around the world. They might be better as a group, but on any given day if one or two players from the other teams really step it up, it could be a long day for team USA. They are not out classing other teams now, just better. This is sort of like in soccer where Brazil is always the team to beat but they do not always win the world cups.

Van Gundier

How did Battier do?

AroundTheWorld

I thought I had read somewhere that Coach K predicted only blowouts.

JeopardE

Carmelo injured his knee in the 2nd quarter.

SamFisher

The US will win the World Championships with mostly blowouts.

This is just a wake-up call about complacency, which they needed.

Tigerknee

That would be a classless thing for him to do.

Agent86

Brazil got robbed, there was this one play late in the fourth with the game close, Kirk throws a pass to Brand under the basket Brand gets fouled going up, harmless foul. They call an intentional foul, Kirk shot two tech freethrows, Brand shot two freethrows from the foul and THEN they got the ball back. Then a few plays later they call another BS call on Brazil which leads to more techs. After that was all said and done USA went on a 8-0 run on techs and it still came down to the last shot.

arno_ed

How many wake up calls does team usa need, they got beaten in the last 2(or 3) major tournaments. I think it is pretty arrogant to need a wake up call. even though the team consists of different players.

That being said, i also think the USA will win the WC, with a lot of easy games. But i also expected them to do just that in the last couple of big tournaments

opticon

Is barbosa on the brazil squad. For that matter are there any Nba players on that team.

jsnwu

Barbosa and Varejao are on BRA team.
They were both in great form in this game.

rockbox

They were on the verge of blowing them before Melo got injured. Melo's game is made for international and college play. No one can really stop him from scoring. Larry Brown was retarded for not playing in the olympics.

SamFisher

It's a new team, new coach, new everything -- 2002 and 2004 don't really mean too much to these guys as far as learning lessons.

Anyway these guys just played a lengthy NBA season (over twice as long as most european seasons) and were playing their second meaningless exhibition game in 2 days; of course they're going to slack off a bit between now and the medal round. Better that it happens in the second half of this game now then later.



Brown's system in retrospect was way too rigid for the players he had; bad choice (as was Karl).

The US is trying to build continuity in the program by having a permanent coach, which is good, but why did they choose coach K? He has Duke basketball to worry about most of the year and is only moonlighting as the US coach. They should get a full time coach (Rudy, Chuck Daly, etc).

A-Train

I think the United States is using it's athleticism on the wrong end. In the Puerto Rico game, Puerto Rico kept it respectable until halftime. In the third quarter, the US started playing the passing lanes, getting on the ball steals, and they starting blowing Puerto Rico out. They need to start using those big wingspans and start making the other teams' passes difficult, take a few risks and go for steals for easy buckets, and bombard the lane on penetrations. No layups at all.

Also, how many balls did the US swat off the rims? I'm not sure they're fully aware of the goaltending rules in international hoops, either...

pgabriel

I think the way they should use their athleticism is play the entire squad, and also play the passing lanes as you suggest.

as far as swatting balls of the rim, I don't think they're ever gonna get used to that.

Champ06

Melo hurt as U.S. edges Brazil in warm-up
Anthony hyperextends knee in second quarter after scoring 16 points

GHANGZHOU, China - Carmelo Anthony scored 16 first-half points before being forced out with a knee injury, and the United States hung on for a 90-86 victory over Brazil on Tuesday.

Anthony set the early pace for the U.S., but slipped while chasing a ball to the sideline with 2:21 left in the second quarter. He crashed into coach Mike Krzyzewski and left the game with a hyperextended right knee, an injury team officials said didn’t appear serious.

Kirk Hinrich added 14 points for the Americans, who led 52-38 at halftime. Brazil staged a big comeback while Anthony sat out the rest of the warmup game before the world basketball championship.


Carmelo Anthony lies on the floor injured as teammate
Kirk Hinrich tries to help.

Brazil went on a 16-0 run right after the break to grab a 54-52 advantage. The teams then traded the lead throughout the third quarter.

Taking advantage of Anthony’s absence, Brazil went on the attack. Welington Dos Santos rattled the U.S. defense with his speed and passing, while Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns, and Alex Garcia repeatedly drove to the basket. Both finished with 14 points.

Cleveland Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao dictated play under the basket, racking up six defensive rebounds and three offensive boards in the third quarter. He fouled out in the final frame with Brazil trailing 85-82.

LeBron James made a late layup, and Joe Johnson — who finished with 12 points — added one from the free-throw line to seal it for the Americans.

Hinrich was 8-for-8 from the foul line, and hit two of four 3-point attempts.

The hard-fought win followed two easy U.S. victories and offered a preview of the tougher competition the Americans will likely face at the world championship, which begins in Japan on Aug. 19.

trugoy

Team USA have NO IDEA on how to play against a tight aggressive zone. Too often their offense is just someone trying to post up and then 4 people standing around outside the 3 point line.

The thing is, most of these players don't know how to do the "little things" that make other players look good, off the ball screening, cuts to open up space, etc...

The Fact is that without the refs and some very dubious calls in the final 3 minutes, USA would've lost. The only legitimate basket made in the final 3 minutes for Team USA was a Lebron James bank shot made against a triple team. Execution in the clutch was very poor, Free throw shooting was abysmal.

DonkeyMagic

what did battier do

rrj_gamz

The competition around the world is getting better, and that can be proven...HOwever, this is USA's to lose...Basketball is the one sport we should dominate given our talent pool...If anyone can gel a team, its Coack K...