Kevin Durant (USA Basketball, Nike)

After running through Croatia and Slovenia like it was frat-house initiation week in the first two pool-play games of the FIBA World Championship, Team USA faces its toughest test so far against Brazil today.

It’s not so much Leandro Barbosa that should worry fans of the red, white and blue; it’s that Brazil has a couple of NBA-certified big men in Anderson Varejao (Cavs) and Tiago Splitter (Spurs), who could give the reputedly thin group of U.S. big men — Kevin Love, Lamar Odom and Tyson Chandler — some problems in the paint. Brazil would be even tougher had Nene not pulled out of the WC with leg injuries, and it should be noted that Varejao is coming off an ankle sprain, but Brazil is still considered the second-best team in Group B next to the Americans. Let’s see how it plays out:

PRE-GAME

- Apparently I started something among the readership when I wrote in the USA/Croatia analysis that Team USA’s worst player was better than Croatia’s best player. To be clear, I’m not saying Croatian phenom Ante Tomic won’t be a good NBA player, or that he doesn’t have potential. But be serious: If you had one frontcourt spot available on your favorite NBA team, and for the same price you could either take Tomic, Odom, K-Love or Chandler, would anybody actually take Tomic? I’m not talking about building for the future, I’m talking about winning right now. And if you had a “wild card” spot on your team, would anybody really take Tomic over Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, Danny Granger or whoever might be considered the 12th man on Team USA?

- Question for the group: Which USA national team was your all-time favorite? Obviously I have much respect for the original ’92 Dream Team, but given the time in which I grew up and the local connection, I still love “Dream Team II” from ’94, the last USA team to win a World Championship gold medal. Two of the (many) Christmas gifts I pined for but never got were Shawn Kemp and Reggie Miller‘s Team USA jerseys from that year. Growing up in Seattle it was huge that Kemp was on that team, and Reggie was another of my favorite players as a kid. They also had Larry Johnson, Dominique Wilkins, Joe Dumars, Kevin Johnson, Steve Smith, Dan Majerle, Shaq and Alonzo Mourning, among others. Great team, although they turned some people off with their showboating.

Leandro Barbosa

FIRST QUARTER

- Less than one second into the game, Andre Iguodala breaks out a classic Vince Carter “something stinks” face. That broke VC’s record for the quickest anyone has ever done it.

- Brazil’s Marcelo Huertas reminds me of J.J. Barea, and he gets the first four points of the game on little baby runners. I saw Huertas play in NYC during the World Basketball Festival, but seeing as he and the whole Brazilian team treated their scrimmage against Puerto Rico like the floor was covered in leeches, I didn’t get a chance to gauge his game.

- Kevin Durant gives the USA its first lead with an and-one layup over Splitter on the break. Huertas than breaks Team USA’s press by himself and feeds Alex Garcia for a layup. Announcer Kevin Connors says, “We have his last name as Huertas.”

- Iguodala blocks an alley-oop attempt, but Brazil keeps its cool and turns the play into a layup. So far they’ve shown they can handle the press, make smart passes, run and rebound. This game won’t be easy. (Then again, I said the same thing about the Greece exhibition, and that didn’t end for well for Baby Shaq’s guys.)

- Durant hits a three to tie it up at 13-apiece with about five minutes left in the quarter, then Odom gives the U.S. the lead back with a layup on the break off a nice pass from Derrick Rose. Fran Fraschilla said Durant might be the only guy on Team USA you’d want to go 1-on-1 as a scorer, but I’d put Rose on that list.

- On the court right now for the U.S.: Durant, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, Love and Rudy Gay. Based on how each guy has played through the first two games, this is probably the team’s best lineup.

- Barbosa drains a three in Westbrook’s eye to put Brazil up 23-22, stops Westbrook from trying to drive past him on the other end, then sticks another fallaway three in Russ’ face. He’s feeling it.

- Brazil makes it an 8-0 run when Barbosa dumps it off to Splitter for an uncontested dunk in the halfcourt, then Splitter spikes a U.S. layup off the glass. Barbosa almost hits a halfcourt heave at the buzzer, which would have been a huge momentum spike. Brazil leads 28-22.

Derrick Rose (photo. Chad Griffith)

SECOND QUARTER

- Guilherme Giovanni drops in a layup over Odom following another USA turnover. Durant looks like he’s about to go into takeover mode, getting an and-one to stop a 10-0 run.

- Barbosa jacks another fallaway three in transition. This one misses. “That’s his shot,” says Fran Fraschilla with an apparent straight face.

- Oh look, there’s a new Free Credit Report band. They’re aiight. Do you think the old band gets legit gigs now?

- Crazy how Derrick Rose is becoming the most polarizing player on the U.S. team. People are growing to either love or hate his game.

- Almost halfway through the second quarter, and Varejao hasn’t played yet. And honestly, they don’t need him yet.

- On that note, Marcelinho Machado steals an outlet pass and gets another wide-open bucket to make it 35-30, Brazil.

- I think Brazil might have the best uniforms in the whole World Championship field.

- WOW. Great slalom dribble move by Rose to get to the cup, finished with a great reverse layup. But then Marcus Vinicius responds with a three to keep Brazil up four. If you recall, Vinicius was once a hot prospect for the Hornets (I think) but never made a mark in the NBA.

- Down by one, USA puts on a half-hearted press, then Durant tries to flop and draw a charge. No whistle. Brazil scores off an easy pick-and-roll. Holding for the last shot of the half, Splitter loses the handle on the way up (Overheard in the office: “Pressed the wrong button on the controller”), but Brazil still goes into the locker room with the lead, 46-43.

THIRD QUARTER

- Dime’s Eric Newman, a.k.a. “Coach E-New,” gives his first-half take: Team USA needs to attack the basket, not let Brazil dictate the pace with screen-and-rolls, and up the pressure. I’d add they also need to figure out a way to do that but without taking so many (losing) chances on defense.

- Has Chauncey made a jump shot today? They’re giving him his patented walk-up three, but Mr. Big Shot isn’t converting.

- Right on cue, Chauncey scraps the jumper and goes bully-mode in the lane to draw a foul. Of course he makes both free throws.

- Splitter puts Odom in the chamber for a bucket on the left block, and Fraschilla says he used a Larry Johnson move.

- Durant hits a huge three to tie it up at 50-apiece. He has 22 of Team USA’s 50 points. Tyson Chandler is in for the first time today, I believe. Still no Varejao.

- Team USA goes up on D-Rose’s pet one-hand floater/hook thing along the baseline. Brazil takes a timeout.

- Iguodala is not have a good game. He just got bailed out on a wild shot with a foul and split the free throws, a few minutes after he got trapped on the free-throw line during the halfcourt and looked like a dictionary definition of the word “flustered.”

- Chauncey is also going into takeover mode. He spins past his man and gets fouled again, and the free throws give the U.S. a 55-50 lead. Question for the group: Is Chauncey a Top-4 point guard in the League right now? Top five?

- Machado’s three makes it a two-point game, but Chauncey responds with another aggressive move to the rim for a layup. Machado comes back with a bucket, as Fraschilla tells us he once dropped 63 in a Brazilian league game. How long would it take Varejao to score 63 in an empty gym?

- We haven’t had NEARLY enough shots of Brazilian girls in the crowd. I should be seeing them more than Splitter’s face.

- The U.S. is slowly building a lead, up 61-55 after a Durant finger roll. This is becoming he and Chauncey’s game. Coach K should just leave them in until they ask to come out.

- Barbosa almost pulled a one-man Tonya Harding. He knocked over Durant during one scramble for the ball, then went sliding after a foul and took out Chauncey like a sweat-seeking missile. Neither guy was hurt, though. Barbosa cuts the lead to two by splitting some free throws. At the end of the third, it’s 61-59 USA.

Chauncey Billups (photo. Mannion)

FOURTH QUARTER

- I wonder if Will.I.Am thinks any Black Eyed Peas songs are played-out?

- Long delay as they try to fix the scoreboard. Maybe ESPN can fix their own clock, which has worked sporadically throughout the three USA games. I’m not complaining though. You ever watch games on ESPN Classic and notice how they only showed the scoreboard when somebody scored? It was especially maddening in football; you’d watch a game for half-and-hour and have no idea what was happening.

- … And we’re back. Durant misses a reverse layup, and Iguodala air-balls the putback. Chauncey misses another three, and both offenses are looking like they’re rusty right now. Durant gets to the line and splits a pair to make it a three-point game.

- Game of inches: Chauncey barely misses picking off a pass, and it leaves Vinicius open for a three to tie the score. Odom breaks the tie with a wide-open dunk via cherry-picking.

- “He made that layup with his EYES.” What is Fraschilla talking about? Rose gets an up-and-under layup plus the foul as Brazil takes a timeout before the free throw. Is anybody in the League better at that up-and-under on the baseline? Rose’s body control, hops and strength makes it easy for him.

- Rose misses the FT, leaving the U.S. up by four with 6:45 to play. USA puts on the press and gets a steal, but Rose and Iguodala botch an alley-oop. “Tough decision by Rose,” says Fraschilla. It’s OK, Fran, you can criticize them.

- Splitter cuts the lead to two on a hook, then Odom steps out trying to drive along the baseline. “Not sure that’s what you want,” says Fran. Ease up, buddy. Not so harsh.

- Durant gets called for a travel on his way to the rim. One of Croatia or Slovenia’s players, I can’t remember, was saying Team USA gets away with too many travels, but the refs have been calling them tight this time.

- Odom misses a wide-open layup with the U.S. holding a four-point lead. Brazil has missed like 176 threes in a row, otherwise they’d be winning this game.

- One minute to go, Durant puts his hand up through the rim and gets called for basket interference. It’s a two-point game, USA in front.

- Chauncey drives and scores on Splitter. Barbosa then goes behind the back on Iguodala and makes A.I.2 fall on his ass before a layup. NASTY move.

- Two-point game, Huertas spins into the lane and gets fouled (or so says the ref). Three seconds left, Huertas misses the first after it touches every part of the rim. He misses the second on purpose, gets his own rebound, and gets it underneath to Barbosa, whose layup also dances around the rim and out. Tough way to lose for Brazil, and you wouldn’t call this a “good win” for Team USA. This one would classify as an “escape.”