Canada’s most talented Olympic basketball team disappoints after being ‘punched in the mouth’ and knocked out by France

Maybe it was the stage or the stakes or the opponent. Maybe it was the stark difference in size and strength. Most likely, it’s each of those things and a handful of others, and they all added up to a disappointing trip to the Paris Olympics.

An 82-73 loss to host France in the quarterfinals sent Canada packing without even the chance to play for a medal. It’s frustrating to a team that expected to find the podium. But in a game that demanded so much excellence, Canada played far below its expectations.

“They were better than us, played harder than us and we saw it from the jump,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led Canada with 27 points while adding five rebounds and four assists. “We obviously tried to make our run in the second half. It wasn’t enough, but that’s what happens when you let teams get off to a good start. They came out the aggressors, they punched us in the mouth.”

What’s left now is to lament a lost opportunity for a team so highly hyped, although what’s to come sounds bright, a point repeated often after the game.

“There’s always some disappointment at some point, and you don’t know how much you can do until you go through tough times,” Canada coach Jordi Fernandez said. “I think we’ve had success because we’ve won a lot of games in the last two years. At these tough times, we cannot forget. We cannot forget how this feels and that’s how we move on from this.”

But the country’s top players won’t be able to represent Canada at a major global event before the 2027 World Cup and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and it’s obvious there will be roster upheaval before them.

Those who will hang around, though, learned hard lessons.

“It’s the best basketball players in the world, so it’s a very hard tournament, if not the hardest,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Once you get to the elimination round, everything matters a little bit more. I think we’ll be more prepared for that next time.”

There are a handful of specific issues that conspired to end Canada’s Olympic run.

Failed in the moment

Canada was behind from the get-go, falling behind by double digits in the first three minutes thanks to some skittish play in a 21,000-seat arena packed with home-country fans.

They didn’t play with any assertiveness, looking for stretches like they were overwhelmed.

“I think we won the rest of the game after the start, but when you start like that, it’s hard to play against anything,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

Oversized

It wasn’t the size and length of the likes of seven-foot-four Victor Wembanyama or seven-foot centre Rudy Gobert that bothered Canada. They were barely factors, with Wembanyama held to six points and Gobert limited to fewer than four minutes because of a finger injury.

Instead it was the size and strength of six-foot-nine, 240-pound Mathias Lessort and six-foot-nine, 260-pound Guerschon Yabusele, who manhandled Canada in the post. They combined for 27 points and 10 rebounds while going 17-for-23 at the free-throw line.

The foul shooting disparate was huge — France 33-for-42 at the line, Canada 18-for-25 — but mainly because Canada was unable to guard in the post without fouling.

Little help

Aside from Gilgeous-Alexander, who was sublime, and RJ Barrett, who had a nice second-half stretch to finish with 16 points, there was no help. Jamal Murray capped an underwhelming Olympics with a 3-for-13 shooting game; neither Andrew Nembhard nor Kelly Olynyk scored a point; Dillon Brooks made one of nine shots; and Lu Dort scored eight points.

Canada might have been able to steal the game if two or even three of them had struggled, but they had no chance if none of them contributed.

There are sure to be questions about how missing players — Andrew Wiggins and Zack Edey primarily — would have helped. They probably would have, but Canada showed all summer it had enough talent to win. It just didn’t perform well enough on one particular day.