Olympics Basketball 2012: Team USA's Vulnerability on Display Against Brazil

For those of you who expect Team USA basketball to cruise to the gold this summer, I present as evidence the exhibition against Brazil Monday night.

By the end of the first quarter of, Brazil held a 10-point lead over the Americans.

Team USA managed to come back, winning 80-69, but that first quarter put the team's weaknesses out there for the rest of the world to see.

Everyone knew coming into the game that Team USA's biggest disadvantage this summer, on paper, will be its lack of conventional big men.

With Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love and Anthony Davis the only three members on the roster above 6'9", the Americans will deservedly be expected to struggle against teams with strong frontcourts in the Olympics.

Lo and behold, what awaited the team Monday night?

Brazil's NBA frontcourt trio of Anderson Varejao, Tiago Splitter and Nene.

Plain and simple, Team USA got rocked for the opening 10 minutes of the scrimmage, on both ends of the court.

The starters never got into a rhythm offensively, taking mostly long jump shots with only a few easy baskets in between. The team converted only seven of 20 baskets in the quarter, with not a single three-point make despite five attempts.

The real cause for concern, however, came on the defensive end of the court.

In that opening stanza, the Americans allowed Brazil to convert 10 of their 16 baskets in the quarter for 27 points, including two wide-open three-pointers from small forward Alex Garcia.

Garcia roasted Team USA for 12 points in the first 10 minutes—or, five less points than the entire American team combined.

The size of the Brazilians led to a number of easy baskets in that first quarter, but the problems started in the backcourt for Team USA. Brazil repeatedly broke through the full-court press applied by the Americans, opening up some 5-on-4 opportunities and blown rotations on the offensive end of the court.

After the game, Team USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "When they scored the 27 points in the first period, it wasn't as a result of not defending their bigs. I just think they got through our defense, our full court defense too quickly and caused numerical advantage possessions in their favor."

One look at the play-by-play of the game demonstrates the consequences of such lackadaisical defense. Besides two three-point shots, all 11 of Brazil's other points in the first eight minutes of the game came within 10 feet from the basket.

Meanwhile, Team USA's play-by-play?

A missed 24-footer from Carmelo Anthony.

A 19-foot brick from Kobe Bryant a minute later.

Another missed three from Anthony 90 seconds after.

Three-point clangs from Bryant and LeBron James within 18 seconds of each other, halfway through the first quarter.

That many missed jump shots, combined with a lack of defensive commitment, sounded the alarm for Coach K and the Americans.

Team USA quickly righted the ship, holding the Brazilians to five points total in the second quarter en route to a five-point halftime lead. Ten steals in the quarter, including two each by Chris Paul, Bryant and Chandler, helped the Americans finally generate some easy, open looks in transition.

After intermission, the U.S. quickly opened a double-digit lead in the third quarter and never allowed Brazil to come within five points for the rest of the scrimmage.

As a number of U.S. players would admit after the game, defense keyed their victory on Monday night.

In total, the Brazilians scored 42 points in the final three quarters against Team USA, following the 27-point explosion in the opening quarter.

"I mean 27 points in ten minutes, and 42 in 30. It's a huge difference," said Coach K after the game.

That opening quarter from Brazil gives the Americans something to remember in London.

Their defense needs to be their calling card. Their offense will come.

"We're going to have to—if we win the gold medal, it will be because of how well we play defensively," said Coach K after the game.

The Brazilians out-rebounded Team USA in the game, 38-30, but once Team USA locked in on the defensive end, the Americans' size disadvantage became a relative non-factor.

Team USA will be most successful this summer when their defense generates offense. Clogging passing lanes, coming up with steals and running the transition game will allow Team USA's athletes to thrive in the Olympics.

Long, fade-away jump shots? When you have these teammates?

Save those for the NBA, please.

“We need to settle down a little bit and try to contain players better," said Chris Paul, Team USA's starting point guard. "I feel like we were over aggressive tonight."

Coach K expected the team to learn a lot from this game, saying "to win a game like this when we're not hitting is a good thing for us."

It certainly gives Team USA something to think about as they head to Barcelona for scrimmages against Argentina and Spain, two of their toughest gold-medal competitors this summer.

Let's put those "1992 Dream Team vs. 2012 ____ Team" discussions on pause for just a minute.

This team needs to win the gold before even entering that conversation.

And Monday night's scrimmage proved that a gold for Team USA is no sure thing this summer.