GUANGZHOU, China, Aug. 8 -- Team USA played team mystery in Game Two of the Chinese Basketball Challenge. And while most of the crowd in southern China may not have been familiar with the Brazil team before the game, they certainly knew who they were by the end of it.

So did the Americans.

Brazil managed to withstand an opening 15-4 run by Team USA to make a game out of it before losing 90-86.

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The Brazilians employed a physical attackto slow down the Americans who seemed to sag when their leading offensive force Carmelo Anthony hyper-extended his right knee three minutes from half time. The Denver Nugget star dove for a loose ball out of bounds and landed heavily on the US bench. Initial reports were that the injury was not serious but Team US kept him out of the game as a precautionary measure.

After two easy wins against Puerto Rico and China, the US was surprisingly forced to play come from behind. Brazil went on a 16-0 run to start the third quarter and turn a 52 – 38 deficit into a 56 - 52 lead. But the Americans rallied and pulled out the game the same way they won their other two through stifling defense.

When Carmelo Anthony went down with a hyperextended knee, the US offense went with him.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images
“Defense will win us games,” said US coach Mike Krzyzewski in a now familiar refrain.

The US employed a pressing defense throughout but the results were far different from the previous night rout when they handcuffed China.

“Well number one, we played a better team tonight,” said Krzyzewski. “You have to give Brazil credit, they went after it and forced us to miss a number of shots. Their intensity was there throughout.”

Despite playing a little more than 11 minutes, Anthony was the team’s leading scorer with 16 points. Kirk Hinrich had 14 points while LeBron James struggled with only 11 points. However, he did make a crucial shot from the baseline with 34 seconds left and the US up by only one point.

“He (James) did not have one of his best games but he did hit the big bucket for us at the end,” said Krzyzewski. “Just like the rest of the team he battled back. This is a young team and we are still learning but a lot of different things happened to our team tonight. Some nights the ball won’t go in and that’s why we put a premium on defense.”

Brazil’s Leandro Barbosa and Alex Garcia led their team with 14 points apiece, but Barbosa’s evening ended early when fouled out halfway through the third quarter.

“That pace tonight, that’s the way we like to play,” said the Phoenix Suns guard. “The US is obviously a good team and we thought we did a great job on them. We did it in the zone defense and they have a hard time with that.”

Garcia stretched the US defense all night with his powerful up tempo game, pushing the ball forward and finding seams in the American’s pressing defense. The game was a sobering wake up call for a US team still searching for a cohesive rotation of players. Brazil, minus Denver Nuggets centre Nene who is still nursing a knee injury and with Barbosa limited to a little more than 18 minutes because of foul troubles, is not expected to be a medal contender at the upcoming World Championship.

But Cleveland Cavaliers forward Anderson Varejao was the emotional glue behind the Brazilian come back, pulling down 16 rebounds until a questionable double dribble call late in the game on Wellington Dos Santos enraged the emotional Varejao and earned him a technical foul which doomed his club.

“The same thing happened to their player and the referee did not call it but he called it on us,” Varejao said. “I tried to tell him it was not a foul, not a double dribble, I didn’t really say anything but he gave me a foul anyway.”

The play in question set up a bizarre sequence in the last two minutes where the US team, trailing by three points, were awarded five technical foul free three throws, with Hinrich making four, in the span of 30 seconds. The Chinese crowd, who cheered loudly during introductions for NBA stars like James and Dwayne Wade, booed vociferously at the referees bizarre calls.

For the US, it was no doubt a great escape but also a forewarning that this will be no stroll to the title. If the US is indeed world champions one month from now, it won’t be offensive wizardry or show-stopping dunks that will have carried them. While that may be fodder for the highlight reel, defense is still the name of the game for this team.

“Brazil played aggressively tonight as you would expect them to,” said Shane Battier. “We tried to attack their zone defense but we missed a lot of shots. Our own defense though kept us in the game and put us in a position to win late.”