Brazil looked impressive in spurts in London, enough to warrant consideration for a medal and potentially a gold medal match with the United States.

They finished 4-2 even though they were devoid of Olympic experience, after failing to qualify in Athens and Beijing. Their two losses came to Russia and Argentina by a combined margin of six points. They defeated Spain, too, though that victory can be attributed to circumstance just as much as good play.

They looked strong, they looked weak, they looked capable and then they were just unfortunate. It happens. Their fifth place finish shouldn’t be a finite indictment of their performance, rather a stepping stone for a better showing in the Copa America, a qualifier for the 2014 FIBA World Cup. Brazil coach Ruben Magnano said they could have been better.

    ”We lacked commitment and fight for better result, but could be better,” Magnano said. “We left the     competition with only two losses, one against Russia by a point, and one to Argentina, by five points. Now     let’s get to work with focus on the Copa America.”

Copa America will also provide Tiago Splitter, who averaged 10.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 48.2% shooting in six games, with another worthwhile international experience. On the surface his numbers look fine — and they are — but when you delve deeper, Splitter still has room to grow.

Eliminating his game against Great Britain, where they didn’t have the talent or frontcourt to defend a mobile big like Splitter, his averages dip to 8.8 points and 40% shooting. Against teams who advanced past preliminary play, they drop even further; Splitter averaged eight points while shooting 38.2% from the field. (The implicit caveat here, of course, is that I’m using a six-game sample size.)

He will get the chance to make my point obsolete with a solid showing next year. Along with third-ranked Argentina, the Copa America field will include solid international squads like the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Uruguay. Ideally, he will improve this year with the Spurs, making the transition back to the international game easier.

Perhaps experience, as Leandro Barbosa noted, hurt the Brazilians chances. The difficult road to the semifinals was unprecedented for this squad, who needed to defeat Argentina, the United States and likely Spain or Russia to capture the gold medal.

    ”The most important thing is that everyone struggled to get a medal,” Barbosa said. “In the Olympics, we     learned that the little details separate the success of winning a medal or (finishing) fifth. Personally, I felt     the lack of Olympic experience, especially on our debut. After everything was hitting it. We head on. What we     presented in London was beautiful.”

Next time, Brazil will need to sustain that kind of production.

While this was a matchup between two international powers — one established and the other merely on the uptick of their progression, discovering the depths of their play — it felt empty. Empty in sense that it didn’t matter.

Which would make sense considering a loss would be more beneficial than a win, due to the quirky nature of the Olympic draw. The potential route of France and Russia is a much more auspicious path to the gold medal match rather than two comsecutive matchups against Argentina and Team USA.

***

Brazil was the lucky (unlucky?) party after they defeated Spain, 88-82. Leandro Barbosa led the Brazilian attack with 23 points, 12 coming in the final frame. It was an untimely performance, if you prescribe to the notion of losing to control your route, but a nice one nonetheless.

Yet you can easily poke faults in Brazil’s interior defense which struggled mightily against the Gasol brothers and Serge Ibaka. Granted, that is likely the best frontcourt triumvirate in London but they allowed them to orchestrate the offense from the high post. The Brazilian defense continually broke at the point of attack as their rotations created passing angles that were easily exploited by plus passers in Marc and Pau Gasol.

The trio combined for 59 points, 16 rebounds and 74% shooting from the field. Brazil boasts a strong frontcourt themselves but they were weakened from the onset when Nene sat out with a foot injury. Anderson Varejao and Tiago Splitter scored 18 points while grabbing 13 rebounds.

Brazil and Argentina, assuming they don’t defeat Team USA by enough points, will face off in the quarterfinals. Should Brazil win, they’ll face the winner of the United States and Australia.

Spain draws France and the winner of Russia and Lithuania. They may have lost the battle but the war, or in this case — a medal, looks like a better bet than it was yesterday.