2014 International Basketball

First team USA exhibition game was played in Chicago against Brazilian team with great size.

Team Brazil featuring 4 NBA players:
Nene
Tiago Splitter
Varejao
Barbosas

Team USA:
PG: Rose, Irving, Lillard
SG: Curry, Thompson, Korver
SF: Harden, Parsons
PF: Faried, Gay
C: Anthony Davis, Ma. Plumlee
*Starters are in bold

Final Score: USA 95 / Brazil 78

Noticeable Performance:
- Anthony Davis: 20pts-8reb-5blk
- Rose is healthy and starting.
- Harden got to the line 11 times.
- Lillard, Korver, Parsons are end of rotation players seeing minimal minutes.
- Tiago had 16 pts but only 2 reb and no blk for team Brazil.
- Varejao brought down game high 9 reb, 5 of them on offense, for team Brazil.
- Seems like Leandro Barbosa is the go-to guy with green light to take any shots for the team Brazil.

Full Story:
http://www.usab.com/news-events/news/20 ... ition.aspx



My observation/opinion:
- Lillard should be ahead of Irving in rotation. Irving saw 14 minutes while Lillard team low 2.
- Both Plumlee and Davis played great. Cousins is due back soon. How will this affect their minutes and play?
- Davis took the most shots on the team, 6 more than second high Klay Thompson, 15 total shots. He might be the centerpiece of this year's team USA?
- Faried's a starter!
- James Harden continues to get to the line even in international stage (& hit all of them). Is he the best at drawing calls in the league?

EDIT: Changed the title to *International, instead of USA. Feel free to discuss any international game, team, or players here.

- Lillard should be ahead of Irving in rotation. Irving saw 14 minutes while Lillard team low 2.

LOL wtf is shadowgrin coaching this team??

Kyle Korver should play more...very smart and efficient player. And I agree that Lillard should play more than Irving. Though I don't understand having Harden at the 3...he should be a 6th man and maybe slot in a shooter for him. How did he look guarding small forwards or other guards?

asshole Q
Don't blame me for the Lillard hate Q, just being real knowing coach K prefers giving minutes to players that have experience under him.

Davis took the most shots on the team......He might be the centerpiece of this year's team USA?

Called it!


I'm surprised that coach K is going 'smaller' ball than before. Gay at PF and Harden at SF is smaller than Durant/LeBron/Melo in those positions.

Sorry, forgot to add that positional depth chart was entirely my assumption. Thus Gay at PF was also my assumption unless we consider the team USA will play big and any mix of Cousins, Davis, and Plumlee see time together on the court.

I will keep my eyes on who plays alongside one of the 3 legit bigs as 4 in games to come though.

Though I don't understand having Harden at the 3...he should be a 6th man and maybe slot in a shooter for him. How did he look guarding small forwards or other guards?

Harden's quite the shooter himself though and I think you can easily get away with Harden at 3 in international games.

Who played 3 on previous national teams btw?

iirc LeBron, Durant, Iguodala, and Kobe played some minutes at 3.

Team USA take on the Dominican Republic in New York on Wednesday.

DeMarcus Cousins will suit up for the game and his spot on the team is still not guaranteed so it'll be fun to keep eyes on him.

asshole Q
Don't blame me for the Lillard hate Q, just being real knowing coach K prefers giving minutes to players that have experience under him.

I don't like the way he's doing the rotations. Lillard gets TWO minutes?? TWO??? I don't remember him even touching the ball.

imo Korver > Klay and yet Klay getting big minutes. Also Drummond > everyone else and somehow Plumlee is getting PT

Even worse, Drummond is most likely to be cut.

Is that the kid that shoots about 30% from free throw line?

Just keep Ant Davis and we all good.

Is that the kid that shoots about 30% from free throw line?

The same kid that can also get 30-25 rebs if he remembers there's no goaltending in international ball.

The same kid who managed to strip Dwyane Wade twice

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LOL @the chicago crowd boo-ing both irving and varejao

This is just me, but I like the design Nike put up on the jerseys of the countries that they're sponsoring, except for USA and Spain. The back part sports the emblem on their flag.

I wonder, how was Ukraine before Mike Fratello?

I wonder, how was Ukraine before Mike Fratello?

Ukraine was a team that always eliminated before main tournament. They had solid centers for Europe but only solid centers.