Watched Germany downed Brazil, 78-65, today in FIBA action here in Athens. A big game as one of my son's favorite players to watch "live" is Dirk Nowitzki, who had 20 against Brazil.
Brazil struggled for the second game in a row. On Thursday, against Greece, Brazil played poor defensively. Brazil switched a frequently against Greece (we typically prefer to switch everything with less than six seconds on the shot clock).
Against the Germans, after trailing by nearly 30, Brazil went to a 1-2-2 full-court press late in the third quarter, forcing Germany to bring Dirk back into the game with about a minute left in the period. But Dirk picked up his fourth foul with nine minutes to play.
Brazil didn't step up defensively until late in the third and then into the final period when they started pressuring, pressing and trapping.
As often is the case when it's successful, the pressure seemed to give Brazil renewed energy, forcing Germany to take a timeout at the mid-point of the fourth quarter.
In the third quarter, Brazil was having Marcelo come off screens to catch-n-shoot, but he had trouble converting.
But it wasn't only Marcelo; the entire Brazilian team struggled offensively struggled as well. They didn't shoot well from the perimeter at all. As far as games go, this was a bad basketball game to watch.
Brazil lacked energy in the first three quarters, then Germany handled the pressure so poorly late in the third until the buzzer.
For Brazil, Tiago (#15) was the best player. [pictured above]
For more FIBA video, go to the FIBA World page on YouTube.
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