Some Canadians think that Canada is the world’s best country, or at least greater than the USA in most things. But not in basketball, even though a Canadian invented basketball (in the US).
Since we have the second most players in the NBA, many Canadians expected Canada (after gutsy wins over Greece, Australia and Spain in the Group of Death) to play — or even beat — USA in the Paris Olympic finals (especially after beating them in Manila to win bronze at the FIBA World Cup last year).
But France brought Canada back to reality in the Paris quarter-final. France led 26-10 early, 45-29 at the half, and hung on to win 82-73 thanks to their superior size, strength, physicality, intensity, depth, rebounding, shot-blocking and long-range shooting — all key factors in FIBA basketball.
Canadians shouldn’t be surprised. France is a powerhouse. They beat Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the last-chance qualifiers for the 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2019, France beat USA, Lithuania and Australia to win bronze at the FIBA World Cup in China. At the Tokyo Olympics, France beat USA in the group phase before losing to USA in the final by only five points.
Canada, meanwhile, lost Olympic qualifiers to Venezuela in 2015 and Czech in 2021, and had to come from behind to surprise Spain to survive their group in Indonesia at FIBA 2023.
While Canadians are better than ever at basketball, France has produced four NBA lottery picks the past two years, including top picks Victor Wembanyama and Zaccharie Risacher. But France didn’t need those guys on Tuesday in Paris, nor all-NBA defender Rudy Gobert and his injured finger. A pair of 6-foot-nine Euro-league monsters Mathias Lessort and Guerschon Yabusele pounded Canada in the paint and combined for 27 points, 10 rebounds and 17-for-23 from the line. Isaia Cordinier came off the bench to notch 20 and veteran Evan Fournier made huge threes down the stretch.
Canadians can complain that we didn’t have top wing defender Andrew Wiggins, two-time NCAA player of the year Zach Edey, or Raptors forward Chris Boucher, a French-speaker who could have filled Canada’s holes at rim protection, shot-blocking and offensive rebounding. But we had Jamaal Murray, who was nowhere near his NBA championship level in 2023. We had the NBA’s top scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who should have been NBA MVP. We had lefty slasher RJ Barrett and two of the NBA’s top perimeter defenders in Lu Dort and Dillon Brooks.
But other than an exhausted SGA (who had 27 points), all of them underperformed in an Olympic quarter-final. Undersized, they got whistled for hacking. France had a 25-8 edge in free throw attempts in the first half, and 42 to 27 for the game. Andrew Nembhard (star of Canada’s win over Spain) and Kelly Olynyk, a fixture since the 2010 World Cup in Turkey, scored zero points. Brooks made only one shot, and Murray made only two (and finished 2 of 14 from three in the tournament).
“They were better than us, played harder than us and we saw it from the jump,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “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.”
“If you don’t earn it, that’s what happens, you lose. It’s the best basketball players in the world, so it’s a very hard tournament, if not the hardest,” he added. “Once you get to the elimination round, everything matters a little bit more. I think we’ll be more prepared for that next time.”
“Offensively, I thought it was our most selfish game. We didn’t share the ball,” said Canada head coach Jordi Fernandez, noting Canada’s 14 assists to 14 turnovers. “We didn’t match their energy and physicality. Obviously, we knew that the home crowd would help. Obviously there was a big free throw disparity that didn’t help either.”
Canadians, taught to think positively, hope that Edey will be a dominant big at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. But we’re not the only emerging basketball power. Germany won the 2023 FIBA World Cup behind agile bigs and the young Wagner brothers. Australia and Spain have athletic young run-and-gun teams. Serbia has great coaching and 3-time NBA MVP Nicola Jokic. Greece has the unstoppable Giannis Antetokounmpo. Slovenia has Luka Doncic. South Sudan have recently taken giant strides on the world stage. Latvia, Lithuania, Brazil, Bahamas and Philippines all consider themselves basketball countries. USA has enough talent to field four teams at the Olympic level.
Amid such competition, Canadians should lower their expectations and enjoy the ride. This wasn’t a disappointment. Canada won all three games in the Group of Death, and staged a comeback against mighty France in their home stadium. It was a step forward for Canada just to compete at their first Olympic hoop tournament since 2000.
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