It’s true, I’m not making that up. Carmelo Anthony probably revealed more than he should have an a postgame interview after Team USA whomped Lithuania early yesterday morning.

“Our game plan was to just keep the ball moving,” said Anthony. “We know we can score from just about anywhere, so we don’t have to wait for a fantastic shot.”

So when Chris Bosh puts up a 3-pointer with 18 seconds on the shot clock, it’s not a bad decision; it’s Mike Krzyzewski’s game plan. Quick shots are more important than good shots, and keeping the tempo up is more important than keeping the shots high-percentage.

Larry Brown’s got to be rolling over in his grave. That is a 180-degree departure from what he would’ve taught to the Athens team. And really, it makes sense for Krzyzewski. I love Larry Brown basketball, and I’ll always think he’s a great, great, coach, but… teaching discipline on the floor, teaching good shot selection, isn’t something that you can do overnight. It’s not something that can be done in a week, or two weeks, or two months, or a Knicks season.

So Coach K isn’t even going to try. Keep the tempo up, run like hell, score when you can, and let’s just take advantage of our freakish athleticism. It’s not the only way to win, it might not be the best way to win, but in this particular situation, it makes a lot of sense. It’s one way to go. Say what you want about the tenets of poor shot selection, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.

By the way, why does it seem like every article written about Team USA is all about Carmelo Anthony? He’s always the leading scorer, he’s always the center of attention. This probably deserves its own post, but I’ve got a theory on that… he may be the only guy on the team stepping up as a leader. What you’ve got is a collection of guys who are sort of the leaders-by-default on their NBA teams, just because they’re the best player, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen true leadership out of anyone on the roster.

The only guy that I can think of who was ever a true, clear-cut leader was Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse. Maybe he’s the only one stepping up now. Just something to watch as the tournament gets ready to start.

Take absolutely nothing from the fact that Team USA romped the Chinese team last night. They’re the worst team we”ll play. Most good mid-major college in America would’ve destroyed them. Here’s a bulleted list of observations, and if it seems like I’m focusing on the negatives, I am. I didn’t see much progress from the Puerto Rico game, and I still think there are a ton of ways in which we can get burned.

• We started with a completely different group of starters, something that’s probably a good thing.
• Gilbert Arenas was the point guard with the starting unit. I think we need Kirk Hinrich or Chris Paul out there at all times.
• We’re still weak on defending the high screen-and-roll.
• I still think we take too many quick shots, especially early in games. I don’t think our shot selection is very good.
• I like the fact that we’re playing a pressure man defense. With our superior athleticism, there are obvious advantages to it. But we’re still not that good at it. This massively unathletic Chinese team was beating us off the dribble quite often, and the help is still a little bit slow to get there.
• A lot of our first-half dominance against China came on the offensive boards. To think that this is a positive indication for us is fool’s gold. They didn’t have Yao, they didn’t rebound aggressively, and they didn’t have a ton of size; at least not the kind of size that’s effective inside. We won’t do that against the good teams we play.
• We force a lot of turnovers with our quick hands, speed, and athleticism, but again, the Chinese were terrible at handling the ball. We will not be able to do this against the better teams in the tournament.
• Shane Battier was again fantastic, and through two games, I’m calling him our MVP.

And this just in: Team USA beat Brazil today by a score of 90-86. The article from ESPN.com news services makes it sound like we struggled because Carmelo Anthony got hurt, a ridiculously absurd notion. It’s not like this team should fall apart if we lose one player, I don’t care who that player is.

This is the game I’d love to see, but unfortunately, it’s not going to be on. The Brazilian team features Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Varejao, and would certainly be the best team we’ve played thus far. This is a game from which we’d be able to tell something. Shame that this is the one they’re not televising.

I’m not just talking about Team USA’s 114-69 victory over Puerto Rico last night. I’m talking about the actual physical makeup of the Puerto Rican team.

More on the basketball in a second, but first, I defy you to name any two teammates in history, in any sport, as ugly as Peter John Ramos and Daniel Santiago. These men are to ugly what Liberace was to gay. Ramos is 23 years old, and he looks like Edward James Olmos. Santiago isn’t quite in the same stratosphere, but with the headband and the goofy glasses (I think the Rec Specs were more dignified), he’s not anything you want to look at. They’re both good basketball players, and I’m sure they’re fine individuals, but someone Rodney King’d those guys with the ugly stick.

Anyway, onto the game. It’s just one game, and I’m not going to get ahead of myself, but… I’m encouraged. To be honest with you, there were minutes early in the game where I was near apoplectic at some things that I saw. Just some terrible defense, guys overrunning things, playing defense with their hands, some poor high-screen and roll defense, and some very bad shot selection… but Coach K chalked it up to nerves and overexcitement, so I’ll take his word for it.

After that opening quarter, we just rolled. Forced a ton of turnovers, scored a lot of easy buckets, and Puerto Rico gave up at some point a few minutes into the third quarter. And at that point, it began to resemble a Globetrotters vs. Washington Generals game, and it was hard to learn too much then.

I’m giving last night’s MVP award to Shane Battier. Every time he stepped on the floor, the team got better, and I think that’s something that will continue through the tournament. He was the best defender on the floor, grabbed some offensive rebounds, he did all the things you’d want him to do. We were a far better team when he was out there. Other guys I was impressed with include, but aren’t necessarily limited to, Elton Brand and Kirk Hinrich.

So, all in all, I’m pleased, but I think ESPN can relax with their 1992 comparisons, based off of one game against Puerto Rico. There are still a ton of things I still want to see. When Puerto Rico did force us into a halfcourt set, most of the time, there wasn’t a lot of fluidity. And I like the pressure man defense, but our help defense is going to have to get better. A lot better. I think things are going the right way, it looks like Coach K was indeed the perfect choice for this gig, but there’s still more that I want to see against teams who will be a lot better and a lot better disciplined than the Puerto Rican team.