Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

The USA Men’s Olympic Basketball team will play its second exhibition game tonight vs. Brazil. The game will be played in Washington, D.C. at the Verizon Center at 8 p.m. EST and will be on ESPN2.

Team USA won its first exhibition game last Thursday when they beat the Dominican Republic 113-59.

Kevin Durant led the U.S. with 24 points and 10 rebounds off the bench in that game and made his first five 3-pointers. Andre Iguodala was also hot from deep making four treys of his own and scoring 18 points.

Russell Westbrook had six points and five rebounds and James Harden scored eight points.

The Dominican Republic was very close to qualifying for the Olympics but lost to Nigeria in the final Olympic Qualifying game in Venezuela last week. NBA players Al Horford and Francisco Garcia played for the Dominican Republic but were no match at all for the U.S.

Brazil will be a tougher matchup for Team USA and is ranked 13th in the world by FIBA. Brazil has a few NBA players on its roster including Nene, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao and Leandro Barbosa.

The United States is without question more talented than Brazil but Brazil could pose a few tough matchups especially with their big men.

Team USA does not have a big roster and will be relying on its versatile wings and backcourt pressure to beat teams. Team USA played a lot of lineups with LeBron James and Durant playing the four and five which will put them at a disadvantage against a team like Brazil where Nene and Splitter can score efficiently out of the low post.

The United States’ ability to pressure ball handlers may also be lessened going up against an NBA-experienced point in Barbosa.

The game changes under FIBA rules and the United States looks less like a collection of NBA players in the process. In their first exhibition match, they fired 33 3-pointers and made 13 of them, thanks to Durant and Iguodala. Team USA doesn’t have a lot of great 3-point shooters however especially considering some of the lineups head coach Mike Krzyzewski plays involving average outside shooters like LeBron and Chris Paul.

The name of the game for Team USA will always be their defense in the backcourt, scoring on the break and moving the ball well on offense. They looked expectedly rusty against the Dominican Republic often over-passing in a game they knew they’d easily win. They also didn’t do the best job of team rebounding, something Coach K has emphasized with this team and something that will be very important against bigger teams like Brazil.

Team USA needs to find a more defined role for all of their players if they are going to hit their potential and win a Gold Medal in London.

Brazil is a perfect test before the Olympics to get the United States into shape. The game should be much closer than the game against the Dominican Republic which should force Team USA to play their appropriate best lineups.

Brazil has always played the United States tough in international basketball and is coming off an impressive 91-75 win over Argentina who is ranked 3rd in the world right now.

Team USA should still win tonight but we can expect ugly basketball in the process.

Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

USA Basketball won its first exhibition game in preparation for the 2012 London Olympics, beating the Dominican Republic 113-59 in a game played in Las Vegas, Nev.

Kevin Durant led the United States with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Durant came off the bench as Carmelo Anthony started instead of him and immediately made his presence felt scoring 11 points in the first quarter and going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.

Durant ended up hitting his first five 3-pointers as he proved why he’s the perfect international basketball flavor.

“It felt good to me,” Durant said. “It was cool to come off the bench for the first time. Wherever they need that spark, I’m going to try to come out and give them that spark. So I was looking forward to having different roles playing with USA, so it was kind of fun for me, actually.”

The United States was not challenged in this game as their game plan of high-pressure defense on their opponent’s guards worked perfectly as they forced 25 turnovers in the game.

“Our ball pressure is ridiculous,” Paul said.”The amount of ball pressure we can put on guys, especially at the guard position with me , D.Will and Russ, and then Kobe and then all of those other guys, we should give everybody hell just about every night.”

The offense actually looked a little more shaky for the U.S. as everyone was playing a little too unselfishly. The United States went 13-for-33 on 3-pointers in the game with Andre Iguodala also catching fire from deep making four in the game.

The United States played a lot of really small lineups after Tyson Chandler got in some foul trouble. LeBron James and Durant were in together playing the four and five quite a bit, a lineup you have to think will get into trouble if they play Spain.

The other Thunder players Russell Westbrook and James Harden each played as well. Westbrook was a terror on defense and finished with six points and five rebounds. Harden struggled with his shot but still scored eight points.

The Dominican Republic had two NBA players on their roster, Al Horford and Francisco Garcia. Horford had seven points in the game and was 1-for-12 from the field. Garcia didn’t score and went 0-for-3 in nine minutes of action.

Team USA will play their next exhibition game Monday in Washington, D.C. against Brazil. The game will be on ESPN at 8 p.m. EST.