Follow live the 12th day of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with 21 gold medals at stake
If there’s one lasting image from Canada’s demoralizing loss in the Olympic men’s basketball tournament, it will be that of a Canadian guard leaving his feet with the ball in his hands, unsure of what to do next.
The most striking example? As Canada tried to close the huge gap that had opened up between the French in the third quarter of Tuesday’s quarterfinal, star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ran the other way in transition. Canada doesn’t have the sharpest ball movement, so it has to make the most of those opportunities. But France responded well, all the Canadians were accounted for and there was a wall in front of the leaping Oklahoma City Thunder guard. He shifted his gaze, looked around and had nowhere to go. So he simply threw the ball straight back, where it bounced to club and country teammate Luguentz Dort. If only he had been above half court.
But it would be grossly unfair to pin the blame for the 82-73 loss on Gilgeous-Alexander. He scored 27 points and had four assists, making him the only Canadian to consistently scare France. No, this is a loss that can be blamed on anyone: the coaching staff, the player development process, the management and/or the players. As far as Canada’s progress in men’s basketball since its last Olympic appearance, this game was a sign of immaturity from a program that has yet to find its footing.
Just like the last time Canada participated in this tournament, it was eliminated by France in the quarter-finals, which created a surprise.
“I think if you remember that feeling, it’s not a good feeling, and you go back to the Olympics and you remember that feeling,” Canadian head coach Jordi Fernandez told reporters in Paris after the game. “There’s always some disappointment at some point, and you don’t know what you can do until you go through tough times. I think we’ve been successful because we’ve won a lot of games over the last couple of years. In those tough times, we can’t forget. We can’t forget how we feel, and that’s how we move forward.”
Canada will first have to return to this stage.
That Canada was caught off guard in this game was understandable. Canada has dominated France twice in the past calendar year. France didn’t have Victor Wembanyama at last year’s FIBA World Cup or Nicolas Batum, who defended Gilgeous-Alexander credibly on Tuesday, in a July preseason game, but still. France dramatically altered its identity, with head coach Vincent Collet all but benching Rudy Gobert, who played less than four minutes. (Gobert injured his finger in practice, saying he had surgery; Collet said there was no surgery and the change was strategic. For Canada’s purposes, it doesn’t matter.) Instead, France closed in on the Canadian defense, surrounding Wembanyama with four more agile players.
This is where the immaturity showed. With no obvious imbalances on the perimeter, whether France was playing traditional or switching plays, Canada was forced to move the ball with little speed. There was little penetration off the dribble and even less advantage created by cutting; just a lot of watching and then shooting over the top or penetrating a solid defense. This is how Canada went more than six minutes without a point in the first quarter, because so few of the complex passes that have crept into the NBA were evident on the Canadian side. After the game, Fernández called it Canada’s most selfish offensive game of the tournament. It was certainly in that vein.
Canada struggled to cope with the size of France, which included Victor Wembanyama. (Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)
The team was down 13 points at the end of the quarter and never managed to get closer than a possession the rest of the way.
On that note, there are a few things that should haunt this Canadian team.
• The referees awarded 42 free throws to France to 25 to Canada, which made 33 to Canada’s 18. FIBA officials often leave a lot to be desired, and there were some questionable calls, especially in the second half.
But players like Guerschon Yabusele (6-foot-8, 260) and Mathias Lessort (6-foot-9, 240), bigs disguised as forwards, buried smaller Canadian forwards under the basket, mostly legally, until Yabusele used both hands to push Gilgeous-Alexander back in the fourth quarter for a basket on an inbounds pass. Those players made 23 free throws. Until Canada used Trey Lyles as a power forward to a center, playing him alongside another big to get a more traditional look that hasn’t been his identity for most of the last two years, he was being bullied. But it was legal bullying.
• Andrew Wiggins (6-7, 197), who with the help of the Golden State Warriors decided not to play in the Olympics. Oshae Brissett (6-7, 210), who is currently an NBA free agent, asked Canada to release him during training camp as he tried to solidify his professional status. Both could have been useful in this game. Canada needed more forwards moving up rather than down.
• Hopefully Zach Edey will play a significant role going forward. The ninth overall pick in June’s NBA draft and a member of the rumored 2022 summer core withdrew his name from the roster because he wanted to focus on his upcoming rookie year with the Memphis Grizzlies. I don’t think it’s a huge deal, because I don’t think he would have played a big role on that team. Still, not having a single legitimate rim protector to throw at France while those wings were getting crushed down low was a problem.
There should be an overhaul of the offense by the next Olympic cycle. Kelly Olynyk (33) has rarely played in this tournament and has been ineffective when he has. Dwight Powell (33) has been overloaded in his starting role as a small-framed big. Lyles (28) hasn’t had much of an impact. Khem Birch (31) was perhaps Canada’s best big in terms of playing time per minute, and he’s been close to retiring due to injuries. Canada is going to have to find solutions and develop talent. It’s clear where the influx of perimeter talent will come from for Canada over the next four years. In the paint, it’s less clear.
• Playing small only works if you can shoot three-pointers and run in transition. Dort, RJ Barrett and Dillon Brooks, seemingly the two-to-four starters on the roster, made 3 of 12 three-pointers in this game. France outshot Canada 12-10 on the fast break.
• Finally, there’s the case of Jamal Murray. Before this summer, the Denver Nuggets star hadn’t played for Canada since the 2015 Pan Am Games. Despite a myriad of injuries, including to his calf and elbow, Murray really wanted to play for this team on the biggest stage. We’ve criticized those who made the opposite decision before, so Murray should be commended.
He just wasn’t good in this game or in this tournament. He went 3-of-13 with just one assist and three turnovers in 24 minutes against France. You’d hope that when Canada needed plays, he’d be there to make some. He didn’t have any.
It is unclear how much his injuries contributed to his poor play. However, he had no connection with the Canadian players before the tournament and missed some pre-tournament playing time. His role led to the diminishment of Andrew Nembhard (only 15 minutes, mostly ineffective, against France) and the virtual disappearance of Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Canada hoped Murray’s shooting would compensate for the disruption in cohesion. It never did.
Despite the difficult end to the season, this result still represents a big step forward. Since its defeat in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament in 2000, Canada had not returned to the stage. In between, it had finished 13th, 21st and 22nd at the World Cup, twice missing qualification, before making a remarkable entrance by winning bronze last year.
In that context, the bronze medal, along with a 3-0 record in the Olympic group stage, represents a huge comeback. Yet it was a missed opportunity. Gilgeous-Alexander just turned 26. Steve Nash was the same age when he coached Canada in Sydney in 2000. He never played in an Olympics again after his team lost to France. No Canadian had played in an Olympics before last month.
Gilgeous-Alexander has a lot more talent around him than Nash did at the time, especially in terms of overall depth. That’s just a warning: Nothing is guaranteed. When your opportunities come, you have to be ready. On Tuesday, Canada wasn’t.
“Once you get to the playoffs, everything matters a little bit more,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters in Paris. “I think we’ll be better prepared for it next time.”
He and the rest of the program will have to make sure there is a next time. For the program, it will be four long years.
(Top photo by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Aris Messinis / AFP via Getty Images)
