1:30: Brazil is starting Tiago Splitter, and will bring Varejao off of the bench. Lamar Odom doesn’t sound like a good starting center for Team USA to me. USA needs to play a lot of Kevin Love at center, maybe a little Chandler. Let’s see how badly Splitter dominates USA’s “big men”.
1:33: Violation on the tip off, followed by a re-jump, Splitter gets it easily.
1:34: Brazil scores first, no defense.
1:35: Brazil scores again, still no USA defense.
1:36: Both teams are playing at a fast pace, but the pace is too fast for both teams. The game is very sloppy.
1:37: Durant hit an open three.
1:39: Tie game, 10-10, a little over 6 minutes left in the 1st.
1:40: Brazil hits a three. They haven’t missed a shot. As I typed that, Barbosa missed.
1:41: Another three from Durant. It looks like Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook will be coming in the game soon. It looks like a pretty even game with the starters. Let’s see how things go when both teams start using their bench.
1:43: Huge block from Rudy Gay. That might have been a goaltend in the NBA, but it was clearly a block under FIBA rules. USA 18, Brazil 17.
1:46: Alex Garcia hits a three, Brazil is up by 1. Brazil’s lead didn’t last long, Kevin Love just hit a three. Now Barbosa hits a three. This thing is starting to look more like a fast paced three point contest than a real game. Not much defense from either team.
1:48: Huge dunk from Splitter. Brazil is up 28-22. Splitter gets a block at the other end. End of the first quarter. The frantic pace of the game is making both teams look a little haphazard, but it seems like the chaos is clearly in favor of Brazil. If Brazil keeps hitting three point shots, I don’t think team USA can win this.
1:51: Beginning of the second quarter. 3 second violation by Odom.
1:52: Team USA finally scores again, but it was on a really ugly fade away shot by Durant.
1:54: Timeout. A US Army commercial, Peyton Manning pushing his latest shoe, and a Verizon Wireless commercial. We’re also reminded about a baseball game that will be on ESPN tonight. I hate baseball. I had to add that, in case you haven’t read my earlier posts, or maybe you just forgot.
1:58: Rose gets a steal, fouled on the layup attempt by Barbosa. Rose hits one of two, Brazil is up 33-30. The commentators remind us about how different the ball is from the one used in the NBA.
2:00: USA turnover leads to another easy basket for Brazil. Team USA can’t play defense, and they’re not protecting the ball on offense.
2:01: Time out. There’s something about the way Fran Fraschilla calls a game that detracts from it. I’m really glad ESPN doesn’t put him on NBA games.
2:05: Durant is playing pretty well. He has 14. But team USA isn’t really playing very well, but a reverse up and under layup from Rose brought team USA to within 1.
2:06: Brazil banks in a three, Brazil 43, USA 38.
2:07: Kevin Love checks back in. Rudy Gay mauls Splitter under the basket to stop an easy bucket. Varejao hasn’t played at all in the first half. The commentators speculate that his ankle injury is worse than originally thought.
2:10: Beautiful pick and roll basketball leads to a pretty impressive dunk by Splitter. Love gets an offensive rebound on the other end, but misses the putback.
2:12: Brazil lead 46-43 at the half. Even though Brazil is only up by three, USA really looks to be in trouble. Brazil is clearly setting the pace of this game. They’ve hit a lot of threes, and they’re playing a lot of pick and roll basketball which team USA can’t seem to defend. As I’ve already mentioned, Varejao hasn’t even played due to a hurt ankle. If Varejao was healthy, I don’t think team USA would have a chance in this one. As it is, Coach K is going to have to do something to motivate these guys if they want to win. Durant has 19.
Half time show update: Australia destroyed Germany. Argentina is beating Angola at half time, but they’re not dominating. Serbia is without Nenad Krstic (suspended for three games due to fighting), but they still blew out Jordan 112-69. Apparently they’re going to talk about Roger Clemens after the commercial break. Yawn.
2:26: We’re coming back from half time.
2:28: Odom hits a shot, and brings USA to within 1. ESPN is having technical difficulties, so we can’t see the clock unless the camera angle shows the clock above the backboard.
2:30: Splitter just picked up his third foul. Team USA needed that. A lot.
2:31: Billups hits a pair of free throws, and USA is back to within 1 with about 7:30 left in the 3rd quarter.
2:32: Rudy Gay just spun around on his pivot foot about five times. I wonder if he got dizzy. Tyson Chandler just checked in for the first time.
2:33: Barbosa just airballed a fallaway three. Durant just hit a three to tie things up at 50.
2:34: Rose just hit a jump hook over Splitter (yeah, you read that right, a point guard just took a jump hook over one of the best international centers in the game) to put the US up 52-50.
2:36: One of the commentators just made a dumb crack saying “There’s no such thing as a 10 point play.” All he really wanted to say was that USA has to play defense if it wants to build a lead.
2:37: Barbosa clanks another three. After hitting everything from downtown early, Brazil has gone cold from the three point line. At this point USA’s lead is due more to Brazil’s cold shooting than anything else.
2:40: Billups free throw shooting saves the day again. USA is up 55-50. Surprisingly enough, Chandler is playing OK defense against Splitter.
2:41: Brazil finally knocks down a three.
2:42: Durant just got called for a travel. I didn’t see a travel, but whatever. Durant makes up for it on the next play with a dunk.
2:43: Barbosa has gone completely cold. He just missed an open three. USA 59, Brazil 55 with under 2 minutes left in the third.
2:44: Durant again. Splitter picks up an offensive foul by lowering a shoulder into Odom. This is USA’s chance to really break things open. Remember, that you only have five fouls in FIBA play.
2:46: Brazil isn’t moving the ball very well, but Barbosa just bailed them out with a deep three with the shot clock winding down.
2:49: USA 61, Brazil 59 at the end of the 3rd. Team USA hasn’t taken advantage of Splitter being out of the game yet.
2:53: The game is being delayed due to a scoreboard malfunction. The commentators brought up a potential conspiracy theory that Spain intentionally threw their game against France in order to avoid playing USA until later in tournament play. They’re now showing us the differences between NBA and FIBA basketball, such as the length of the game, size of the court, and goaltending rules. They also mentioned that FIBA will be getting rid of their characteristic trapezoidal lane starting Oct. 1.
2:56: The scoreboard is still malfunctioning.
2:58: The fourth quarter is finally getting started.
2:59: Billups just took a straight ahead three early in the shot clock. It bounced off the back of the rim.
3:01: Brazil hits a three, tie game at 62.
3:03: We’re going to a commercial break with USA up 66-62 after an incredible layup by Rose. He got fouled and will be heading to the free throw line when we come back. ESPN breaks in again to remind us about baseball. Ugh.
3:05: Rose misses the freebie. Splitter is back in the game. ESPN’s clock still isn’t working. It’s really annoying when you don’t know how much time is left.
3:06: Durant just got blocked. The score is still 66-62. Time out. I think I’ve seen enough Army recruitment commercials to last me a life time. It doesn’t matter how many times you show that stupid commercial. I’m not enlisting. Give up already.
3:09: Team USA’s offense looks really stagnant. Odom drove to the basket, but stepped out of bounds. USA is up 66-64.
3:12: Offensive foul on a Billups drive. Brazil has three players with four fouls.
3:13: Durant just got called for another travel. Once again, I didn’t see any travel. If you think that NBA officiating can be bad, watch some international ball.
3:14: Brazil is shooting 2 for 15 in the fourth. Brazil’s cold shooting is the only reason that USA is up 4 right now. Durant just got called for basket interference. Even though you can hit the ball after it’s hit the rim in international play, you can’t put your hand through the basket like Durant just did. That mistake just let Brazil pull within two with 1:04 left in the game.
3:17: Billups drove right into Splitter and hit the shot, but Barbosa hit on the other end. USA is still up by 2.
3:18: Huertas just got fouled, and is heading to the free throw line with 3.5 seconds left. If he hits both, we’re probably heading to overtime. He missed the first shot. He missed the second intentionally, Brazil got the rebound, but Barbosa missed the shot. USA wins, 70-68.
Somehow the USA pulled off the win today, but it certainly wasn’t pretty. Their defense was horrible in the first half, and just OK in the second half. In my opinion USA didn’t win this game. Brazil lost it. They missed a lot of open shots in the second half.
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