One of the best things about this Canadian men’s basketball team at the Olympics is that it doesn’t know what it doesn’t know. It soldiers on, not caring about the stakes or the history or the opponent.
It’s not going to wait its time, it’s going to grab it.
An 88-85 victory over Spain on Friday, Canada’s third straight win, sends the men into the quarterfinals on Tuesday, rare air for a country off the global basketball radar for almost a quarter of a century.
The moment will be daunting but they don’t care.
“We are here to win the gold medal,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said in the mixed zone in Lille, France, after Friday’s win.
South Sudan’s men’s basketball team is raising awareness of the country, to strike a blow for African basketball. It’s all bigger than results.
Canada’s quarterfinal opponent for Tuesday won’t be determined until pool play ends Saturday. But, at 3-0, the Canadians are assured of avoiding the United States in the first game of the knockout round.
There was a symbolic passing of the torch Friday. Spain has long been a gold standard of the international game: always good, always in medal contention, the kind of program others want to be.
But they are out of the Olympics thanks in no small measure to Canada, and they were out of the 2023 World Cup thanks in no small measure to Canada, too.
“Now we have a group of guys that have gone through a World Cup now, the Olympics, and I think right now our experience is taking us to the next level,” Canada coach Jordi Fernandez told reporters in France.
“So very happy with my group of guys playing in this pool. It was extremely competitive. Being 3-0, it’s a great accomplishment. So we all have to be happy.
“At the same time, I want to be better as a group. I want to close games better, and that’s something we’ll figure out at some point.”
Silently lethal
A killer work ethic, supportive parents, visionary coaches and down-to-earth pals all had a hand in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s mind-blowing success
Gilgeous-Alexander is the most unremarkably remarkable basketball player you can imagine.
There isn’t a ton of flash to him, not an awful lot of high-flying antics to his game. He’s a brilliant model of consistency, and when the moment requires it he delivers the big play.
He ended the first half Friday with a silky smooth three-pointer and a clean pick and dunk — the tongue-wave on his way to the rim was his most cheeky play of the Olympics. That gave Canada a comfortable lead at the break.
And with the game close in the final minutes, he beat a Spain box-and-one to hit Dillon Brooks for a basket, got free from a ball-denying defence to hit Andrew Nembhard for another, and worked free from three defenders to feed RJ Barrett for a three-pointer.
Toss in three foul shots to finally ice the affair and it was a quietly lethal game from the Hamilton native.
The Dort effect
One of the big differences between the Spain team that Canada beat at the World Cup last fall and the team Canada met on Friday was the availability of Spain guard Lorenzo Brown.
The naturalized American, who played 14 games with the Raptors in 2017-18, missed the World Cup with an injury. But as a proven scorer and a starter, he provides a different look to the Spanish attack.
And Lu Dort basically made him disappear.
Applying full-court pressure almost every minute he was guarding him, Dort made it impossible for Brown to get untracked.
Dort had help, primarily from Dillon Brooks, but Brown went just 2-for-9 from the floor with five turnovers and four assists, and was a nonfactor when Spain needed him.
Picked him out
Of all the players Canada wanted and needed to add after the World Cup last fall, it was Nembhard.
More than Andrew Wiggins and Bennedict Mathurin. More than even Jamal Murray, if you pumped players and officials full of truth serum and asked them.
Andrew Nembhard lays it in for Canada against Spain during a Paris Olympics preliminary game.
SAMEER AL-DOUMY AFP via Getty ImThey wanted a great backup, a steady scorer, a calming rising star to accept the role and take some pressure off Gilgeous-Alexander.
What they needed was what Nembhard gave them Friday afternoon.
He played nearly 22 minutes, made a couple of three-pointers as part of an 18-point game and was a perfect outlet for Canada’s offence any time he was on the court.
“He was aggressive, and he just took what the defence gave him, he never forced (anything),” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation