Canada trash France by 30 as FIBA World Cup tips off
That is not the kind of game Canada usually wins, certainly not in such dominant fashion. Maybe there is something special about this iteration of the senior men’s basketball team.
For whatever reason, Friday was the kind of game where a good but not quite great Canadian teams historically falls short.
A miracle Tomas Satoranskly shot in Victoria two years, Kelly Olynyk slipping on a midcourt logo in Mexico City in 2015, the never-heard-of-again Makan Dioumassi beating up Steve Nash in 2000 at the Sydney Olympics.
Heck, go back to José Ortiz almost having a quadruple-double for Puerto Rico in San Juan in 2003 at the Olympic qualifier, Rick Fox slipping on the Maple Leaf Gardens court at the world championships in 1994, J.D. Jackson missing a runner going across the lane back in 1992 at the Tournament of the Americas.
It’s always something.
Not now.
Not this time.
An eye-popping performance to open the FIBA World Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia – and wiping out highly-regarded France 95-65 is about as eye-popping a performance as you’ll get – firmly set this Canadian team apart from many others.
It was, in the vernacular, a statement victory.
“We played really good basketball today,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said after a gem of a game with 27 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, only one turnover and two steals. “We did the right things on both ends of the court for the most part of the game and we know that when we do that, play to our identity, do the things that we’ve been preaching for the last month that we can beat and play with everyone in the world.
“We have a lot of guys on this team that are hungry, talented and ultimately just want to win and when you have those three things, you can do anything.”
That’s what may ultimately sets this team apart from other Canadian squads now they have so easily dismissed a very good France team.
They are confident but not cocky, and having one dominant victory to their credit will only buoy them psychologically. It’s not that there were doubts before the game but there had to be at least a nagging question or two.
How good would they be? How would they handle the difficult moments? Would the “team” aspect of a team that’s been together for less than a month hold?
Very. Resoundingly. Oh, yes.
“It’s always good to be rewarded when you’ve been working so hard so I give these guys all the credit in the world because when everyone tells you – the outside noise – how good you are and you work and you show it and you play this hard, you’ve got to enjoy it,” coach Jordi Fernández said.
Only the beginning
So, they can breath easily now?
Not on your life.
Trouncing France was nice and it gives Canada a leg up in advancing to the second round and potentially on to the quarterfinals but they would give all the gains back with a loss to either Lebanon (Sunday, 5:45 a.m. ET) or Latvia (Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. ET).
If they don’t know it, Fernández will remind them.
“The most important game of your life is your next game and if we think differently, we’re wrong,” he said. “We haven’t done anything … we know why we’re here for and that next game is going to be for our lives.”
Foot on the gas
How’d they beat France by 30, though? Winning the third quarter 25-8 did the trick.
Leading by just three at halftime, Canada dominated France for the entire 10-minute stretch, taking the heart out of them.
“As a team, they kind of forced us to do things that we don’t want to do,” said France’s Evan Fournier, who had 19 points in the first half and two in the second.
“At first we were able to score every now and then, our defence was solid but as the game went on they kept applying pressure and they just got the best of us.”
One game at a time
Complacency’s a danger, right?
It could be. Lebanon was crushed by Latvia in its opener on Friday and is certainly in France’s class.
But one thing that came through post-game Friday is that Canada understands the bigger mission.
That’s where Fernandez has to focus his energy.
“When you win one game in a tournament like this, it means what it means: You have one win,” he said. “In tournaments like this, you learn from adversity, difficult times and we had some difficult times to start and we fought through it.
“The reality is, next game we may have adversity again so my job is to prepare these guys for the next time we see adversity.”
This article was reported by The Star
