The second round of the FIBA Americas Championship 2007 gets underway Monday, Aug. 27, with the USA meeting Mexico (1-3) at 8:00 p.m. (PDT). FIBA Americas is expected to announce the complete second-round schedule late Sunday night.

The top four finishing teams from preliminary round groups A and B will advance to the second round and form one group. The fifth place finishers in each preliminary pool will conclude their participation in the competition. Each advancing team’s record against the other teams advancing to the second round will carry over to the second round standings. The No. 1 finishing team from Group A meeting the No. 4 team from Group B and the No. 1 team from Group B meeting the No. 4 team from Group A. Likewise the No. 2 team from Group A will play the No. 3 team from Group B, and the No. 2 team from Group B will play the No. 3 team from Group A.

“We beat a really good team today,” said USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski. “Brazil is one of the best international teams, their coach is outstanding. We had a great game against them last year (a 90-86 USA win in Guangzhou, China on Aug. 8, 2006). I thought our defense in the second and third quarters was at the highest level that it has been at during the tournament.”

The USA featured three players with 20-or-more points, including a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds from Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets), 21 points and five assists from LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) and 20 points from Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers). Anthony needed only 17 minutes played to reach his 21, James did so in just 24 minutes and Bryant reached his totals in only 20 minutes played.

“At the beginning of the game we came together as a team and talked about how this is one of our biggest games out here that we play,” Anthony said. “We have to play well together and keep doing what we're doing.”

Although the U.S. jumped ahead 10-1 to open the game, Brazil managed to keep pace with the Americans, and with the first 10 minutes of the game in the books, the score was 27-21 in favor of the Americans.

With the U.S. clinging to a 37-32 advantage, Bryant sank a jumper at 5:31 in the second quarter to help launch the USA on a 20-6 scoring run. James finished off the streak with a running 3-pointer from just inside half court to beat the buzzer and hand the USA a 57-38 lead at the halfway point.

“(Tiago) Splitter did a really good job in the first period of driving the ball to the basket, it was obviously their goal to do that,” Krzyzewski said. “I think we made adjustments in that regard, our guys did a much better job after the first quarter.”

The third period belonged entirely to the USA as the red, white and blue applied defensive pressure and turned up the tempo on offense.

Brazil’s leading scorer, Tiago Splitter, scored the second half’s first points, but the USA answered with a 17-0 run that was started by back-to-back 3-pointers from Bryant, and ended with two more scores from deep, first from James at 7:40, and then from Anthony at 6:48 to bring the score to 74-41.

The USA was a scorching 8-of-12 from 3-point in the period, scoring a total of 39 points while limiting Brazil to just 11 points on 3-of-17 shooting from the field.

Brazil’s Leandro Barbosa, who headed into tonight’s contest averaging a tournament-leading 27.0 ppg., faced a tenacious Bryant for much of his 26 minutes and was limited to just four points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field.

“We did put a lot of focus on Barbosa, he’s a dangerous player,” said Chauncey Billups (Detroit Pistons). “He can beat you inside, he’s so fast, so quick to the basket. He can get you in foul trouble so we put a lot of emphasis on him, on stopping him. Kobe started off and did a great job trying to denying him the ball and not let him get touches and playing physical with him. When (Kobe) came out of the game, whether it was me or whoever else on him we took the challenge and tried to do the same thing.”

Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks) also added 16 points to the U.S. effort; Amaré Stoudemire (Phoenix Suns) contributed 11 points and five rebounds; Billups scored nine points; both Deron Williams (Utah Jazz) and Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets) dished five assists; and Tyson Chandler (New Orleans Hornets) grabbed five boards.

The U.S. continued its hot shooting, sinking 55.1 percent of its shots overall, including a red-hot 19-for-36 from 3-point for a killer 52.8 percent.

Through its first four preliminary round games, the USA is averaging 115.2 points a game, owns a 48.4 margin of victory, and, just as impressive, is shooting as a team 56.1 percent from the field, 48.4 percent from 3-point, and 76.2 percent from the foul line.