Not much you can take from this one. The basketball craze that’s swept the world since Dream Team ’92 really hasn’t caught up to Venezuela yet. Argentina and Brazil are the reigning South American powers. Team USA suffocated Venezuela early and then, predictably, began to disintegrate gradually into All-Star mode.

There was one gorgeous play where four players touched the ball in the span of two seconds, maybe, culminating in a spectacular dunk – but the final pass was completely unnecessary and risked a turnover, exactly the kind of showboating that puts Team USA in danger of slipping into a mind-set of complacency.

I thought Bill Walton made the best point of the night. In talking about Team USA’s international failures since winning gold at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, he acknowledged some of the obvious shortcomings – lack of 3-point shooting, lack of great team chemistry, etc. But he said the biggest failing has been their inability to respect their opponents.

He’s right. Team USA just can’t work up a healthy fear of the opposition because they innately believe – and they’re right about this – that on talent alone they’re going to have 12 of the 14 or 15 best players on the court every night.

In the NBA, it most often boils down to who has the most talent. Remember the aftermath of the Pistons’ 2004 NBA title win in their “five-game sweep” over the ultratalented Lakers? The question that summer was if the Pistons had branded a new NBA championship model – the “superstarless” team. That talk has dissipated as the last three champions have been dominated by elite players – Tim Duncan, Dwayne Wade, Shaquille O’Neal.

I think the presence of the two Pistons helps Team USA on that count. Apparently, Mike Krzyzewski does, too. Tayshaun Prince played a team-high 24 minutes, scoring four points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing out four assists – exactly the type of understated efficiency they were looking for when they added him to the roster for his savvy, defense and intangibles.

What Chauncey Billups did best in a tidy five-point, three-assist, 14-minute outing – Jason Kidd played 15 minutes – was try to pull in the reins. When Team USA looked like it was going into Globetrotter mode on one transition attempt, Billups tapped the brakes and insisted on running a play. It didn’t matter against the overmatched Venezuelans and it might not at any point in this qualifying tournament – but it will when they gather again next summer in Beijing.