Team USA will hit the floor against Brazil at 9 pm Eastern Time at the United Center in Chicago. With DeMarcus Cousins out, Coach Mike Krzyzewski will go with a starting lineup of Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, James Harden, Kenneth Faried, and Anthony Davis.

Team USA will be matched up against a bigger Brazil team featuring NBA players, Nene, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao, and Leandro Barbosa. Brazil will be big up front with Splitter, Nene and Marcus Vieira in their starting five along with Barbosa and Marcelinho Huertas in their backcourt.

It will be a tough game for the boys in red, white, and blue. They are a bit undersized with Cousins out. Mason Plumlee, Andre Drummond, and Anthony Davis may see significant minutes, but they will need to play a physical game against a bulky Nene, who will be banging in the paint all game long.

USA will play a lot of small ball in their backcourt. Curry is the starting shooting guard, and Damian Lillard figures to play the same role due to his ability to shoot from long distance.

USA’s backcourt players will have their hands full on defense as well as they matchup against the “Brazilian Blur,” Leandro Barbosa.

Going into the game, rebounding is going to be the biggest key to victory for Team USA. Brazil has one of the feistiest rebounders, Varejao, who in the past three seasons in the NBA has been averaging 11.1 rebounds per game.

This is one game where Team USA’s lack of size will be tested. It will take a team effort for them to come out victorious. However, this is going to be a difficult one for them.  

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About the author
Vahan Shakhpazyan
Vahan Shakhpazyan loves the NBA with a passion and has been an avid follower for 18 years. He is a UCR graduate with a BA degree in Creative Writing. The man behind the Facebook page NBA updates.