LeBron James Helps Team USA Survive Test From Brazil

LeBron James and Team USA held Anderson Varejao and the Brazilians just out of reach in their 80-69 victory Monday night. (Patrick Smith)

When Team USA destroyed the Dominican Republic by 54 points last week in their first pre-Olympic exhibition, many naive Americans thought Team USA would simply waltz its way to gold medals, like they did in 2008. While many worried about the debate of whether or not this is the best "dream team" ever, they failed to look at the potential flaws and shortcoming of this team.

Team USA got a wakeup call right away from the Team Brazil. After all, the Brazilians do have four current NBA players (Nene, Leandro Barbosa, Anderson Varejao, and Tiago Splitter) and a handful of other international talent. However, it was a former NBA guard Alex Garcia, who took the game over early. Garcia scored 12 points to help build the Brazilians lead to 10 after the first quarter.

Nene came up with a huge slam dunk and a block of Kobe Bryant on the other end as Brazil's lead stood at 29-21. That's when the Americans responded. They scored 12 points unanswered and turned up the pressure defensively. During the second quarter, the Brazilians had 12 turnovers with only nine field goal attempts. Team USA was up 37-32 at the break.

The Americans continued the offensive attack and defensive intensity, but could not seem to put Brazil away. The Brazilians even pulled within six points late in the fourth quarter. Team USA did finally put them away for the hard fought win. LeBron James led the way with 30 points. Kevin Durant had 11 points and Chris Paul added 10 of his own for Americans.

What did this exhibition tell us about Team USA? They are far from invincible. Their inability to truly put away Brazil shows that they weren't that much more superior of a side. The front court is clearly a weakness. It's not that they are bad, but the lack of size is apparent. We learned that Team USA's road to the gold won't be a walk in the park. They are still the favorites, but they should be careful to not get overconfident.