RIO DE JANEIRO (Pan American Games) - The prevailing sentiment in Brazilian basketball is that the men’s team finished a disappointing fifth at the Pan American Games because they didn't have satisfactory preparations.

Runners-up to Argentina at the FIBA Americas Championship in Mar del Plata, a finish that earned Brazil a trip to the London Games, Ruben Magnano’s team struggled last week in Guadalajara, Mexico.

If the objective had been to win a gold medal and cap a great summer ahead of next year's Olympics, Brazil were instead put on notice that they have a lot of hard work to do before travelling to London.

"It feels like an excuse, but we didn't prepare adequately and that has to be a lesson for future competitions," veteran forward Guilherme said.

"We can't go to an international competition with three or four days of training."

Magnano, the head coach of Brazil, has yet to deliver his post-mortem on the Pan American Games.

He remained in Mexico instead of returning immediately to South America.

He’ll know that Brazil were nowhere near full strength in Guadalajara, but then again, that was also the case for the Dominican Republic and the United States and they finished higher in the rankings.

The USA had a team of NBDL players who were nevertheless passionate about representing the country and they finished third.

Among their victories was a come-from-behind effort against Brazil, with the United States overcoming a 17-point deficit in the third quarter to win, 88-77.

The key men missing for Brazil were point guard Marcelo Huertas, center Tiago Splitter and forward Marcus Vinicius.

The assistant coach, Jose Alves Neto, maintains the main problem was the lack of practice time.

"You cannot play in an international competition with three days of training," he said.

Puerto Rico beat Mexico in the title game and the USA downed the Dominicans to capture bronze.

FIBA