CARACAS (Venezuela) - "Thou shall not steal", one of the Ten Commandments, doesn't apply on the basketball court. The creed of Venezuela's rampaging hoops raiders is to nab balls and win games.

After two windows of the FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers, Venezuela carry the mantle as the biggest thieves. They have the most steals of any country.

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What you see when you watch Venezuela are quick hands, full-court pressure with traps and an overall suffocating, opportunistic defense that doesn't just gain possession but leads to points.

Pedro Chourio and Miguel Ruiz have been Venezuela's main poachers yet there are accomplices.

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Pilfering Pedro

If Chourio is in the game, opponents beware. He lurks while guarding a player without the ball, during a switch, while defending in the low post or on the perimeter, or while running back on defense. Like a submerged crocodile with only his eyes above the water, the 1.86m (6ft 1in) Chourio is hungry for the ball.

And when he gets it, by reaching in and knocking it away, by sneaking into a passing lane or by alertly scooping up a loose ball that was deflected be a teammate, it almost always leads to a basket for Venezuela.

Chourio, who gets his hands up on defense, has nine steals, second in the Venezuela team. Panama's players must have had a few sleepless nights thanks to Chourio, who had a combined 5 steals in their two defeats to the men from Caracas.

Miguel the marauder

Ruiz's name is on the team sheet because he is big, strong, opportunistic and very annoying on defense.

The 1.86m (6ft 8in) power forward got his steals in the first two windows in a myriad of ways, by cutting in front of his man to deny passes, reaching around from behind or the side to deflect the ball, by helping off his defender to swipe possession or by getting his hands up.

On one play against Paraguay, Ruiz intercepted an inbounds pass at mid court and ran the other way for a dunk. While he can score in the half court, Ruiz is probably more of a defensive specialist, a key disruptive element.

Rip it off and run

"Our best offense is our defense," is what so many coaches say, and they're right. If a risk-taking, high-pressure defense comes up with steals or forces turnovers, it often leads to points. It certainly did for Venezuela in the two windows, where they scored 27 off their 77 points off turnovers against Panama in their very first qualifier game and 28 of their 97 points off turnovers against Paraguay in the last qualifier.

Coming up with steals is like lighting the touch paper for Venezuela, because what follows are dazzling diagonal passes on fast breaks, sensational drives and dunks even pull-up jumpers.

Fernando Duro is the coach of Venezuela and that's fitting because the word "duro" in Spanish translates to hard or tough in English. That's an appropriate description of the Venezuela defense in the first two windows when they won all four of their games.

FIBA