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There was a time, and may be one again, when Brazil could go toe-to-toe with the US in International competition.
Oscar Schmidt was the driving force behind that though and he retired in 2003. Before he did, the 6-9 forward helped revolutionize basketball, a Brazilian counterpart to Dirk Nowitzki and the soon-to-arrive Kevin Durant.
In 2007 though, Mike Krzyzewski felt a strong obligation and desire to rebuild Team USA and after an early loss to the Greeks, no one ever beat one of his international teams again.
So when the US played Brazil in the 2007 FIBA Americup, there wasn’t much Brazil could do.
The US roster featured Chauncey Billups, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Deron Williams, Michael Redd, Tayshaun Prince, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Amar’e Stoudemire, Mike Miller, Tyson Chandler and Carmelo Anthony.
The next summer, the core of this team would add Carlos Boozer, Chris Paul, Dywane Wade and Chris Bosh and become known as the Redeem Team. In this 2007 game, the team beat Brazil 113-76 and soon the sense of invincibility would return to American basketball.