USA Faces Test Against Banged Up Brazil

[noob cake]

Splitter looks better than I thought....I originally thought Spurs fans are only on his because Spurs owns his rights. He is pretty legit.

[MannyIsGod]

irrelevant, because Brazil guards shoot shots

Nene would magically dominate the game without taking possesions away from anyone else. Thats just how good the Brazilian Wilt is.

[cd98]

Enough whinning about missing Nene and Side Show. Team USA had several bigs that were injured. That's why they were forced to go with Odom and Chandler. Don't you think we have a few better big guys in the USA?

Let Brazil stand on its performance and don't belittle their compe ive game by making excuses if they lose.

[DrSteffo]

Splitter has been legit the last 5 years

[MannyIsGod]

It matters from a defensive standpoint.. if you're not hitting 3's then you have to defend the rim, especially against an over-the-top athletic team like Team USA. Who's going to block shots in Brazil outside Splitter?

Nene can do that, and Varejao, while not a shot blocker, is a pesky defender.

Don't get it wrong. Brazil needs everything going right, including having their best players available to beat this Team USA.

If their guards had kept playing on the level they did in the first half, they would still be winning this game with or without Nene. Thats the point that I made in my initial post before everyone went all OMG NBA PLAYERS.

[TimmehC]

Does the USA really have 30+ turnovers?

[ElNono]

This just shows how good Magnano is, IMO... a fairly similar Brazilian team didn't even make it to the knockout stage in the last World Cup...

[rayray2k8]

Clock issues? I see women trying to fix it.. That might be a reason.

[ElNono]

If their guards had kept playing on the level they did in the first half, they would still be winning this game with or without Nene.

Maybe. But in basketball averages eventually catch up with you. You gotta hand it to Brazil that they've kept this game this close when their shooting eventually went cold.

[PDXSpursFan]

Clock issues??? Maybe Stern trying to fix the game????

[ElNono]

Damn... this is lame

[ElNono]

Tiago and Varajeo are much better than they were 4 years ago. Tiago is a lot better.

True. But you can also see they're much more disciplined now. They know what they're running, execution is day and night, and the defense is improved too.

[eric365]

If their guards had kept playing on the level they did in the first half, they would still be winning this game with or without Nene. Thats the point that I made in my initial post before everyone went all OMG NBA PLAYERS.

Yes because it's not the good big that give open look to the guards

When Splitter is not there they take contested shoot instead of open looks.
Nene in backup of Splitter would have helped the 3pt %

[ace3g]

I guess they will let Splitter rest for about 4 minutes

[ElNono]

Chauncey bricking the shots he's supposed to brick... no surprises there...

[Texas_Ranger]

Wow... Those American individual plays are really great.

[Zelophehad]

Nene would magically dominate the game without taking possesions away from anyone else. Thats just how good the Brazilian Wilt is.

[ace3g]

3 by Vinicius

[hater]

USA completely flat after the long break

[rayray2k8]

Good game yo.

[ElNono]

Odom starting to dominate LOL

[hater]

Odom

[lebomb]

Looks like Durant will have to carry the US, in order to win the gold IMHO. Brasil has balanced scoring............USA? Not so much.

[bbarry]

hahahahahaha odom flopping to the ground fortunately gave him two points.

[ace3g]

Odom lazy ass got luck there, couldn't even get down the court so was already down there for the pass and basket