Pan-Am Games: USA 88, Brazil 77

This USA Basketball team seems something like a science experiment. The team has no true point guard, no reliable post threat, and had a mere two weeks to practice together before the competition. If you're interested in seeing what such a team looks like, be sure to tune in Friday night to its final pool play game against Uruguay. Let me warn you, however, that it's not always pretty. In fact, it usually isn't.

If you're wondering how such a team erased a 17-point third-quarter deficit to beat Brazil going away, well, I don't have a great answer for you.

USA Basketball at the Pan-Am Games

Apparently, the Pan-Am games have been going on for a while, but the men's basketball tournament didn't start until today. The U.S. will makes its television debut Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN, but thanks to a tip from Ridiculous Upside, I was able to check out the U.S.'s opening game against the Dominican Republic this afternoon online.

A sluggish first half gave way to what became a very entertaining game, with the U.S. ultimately triumphing 77-76. The U.S. team is full of D-Leaguers, and I thought I'd give you a little breakdown of what I saw from some of the guys on Wednesday in case you, like me, would rather watch mid-level international basketball Thursday night than Game 6 of the World Series.