JAKARTA RAYA, INDONESIA — The Canadian men’s national team overcame a slow start Friday evening in their FIBA World Cup opener against France, utilizing a dominant third quarter on the back of Shai-Gilgeous Alexander to cruise to a 95-65 victory.
France got off to a fast start, taking a quick 7-0 lead after two inside scores from Nando De Colo and a three from Evan Fournier, before Canada scored eight in a row as part of an 14-2 run to take an early 14-9 lead after Gilgeous-Alexander found his cousin, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, for three at the top of the arc. France, though, responded nicely to take an 18-14 advantage after one.
Looking out of sorts and rushed in the opening quarter, Canada, who shot just 35 percent from the field in the opening 10 minutes, played a strong second half of the second quarter. Down 28-24 with 5:53 remaining in the half, French center Rudy Gobert was called for an unsportsmanlike foul for elbowing Canadian forward Kelly Olynyk. Olynyk hit both of his free throws, and Gilgeous-Alexander made two to tie the game at 28. After Dillon Brooks forced Guerschon Yabusele into a turnover, Gilgeous-Alexander took the ball the other way for a finger roll, to give Canada their first lead at 32-31. The team took a 43-40 advantage after two quarters despite Fournier’s game-leading 19 points and only shooting 42 percent to France’s 52 in the opening 20 minutes.
In the third quarter, a shift in defensive strategy, and Gilgeous-Alexander’s high level play, enabled Canada to blow the game open.
With Dillon Brooks and Lou Dort being physical, playing Fournier tight and not giving him room to operate, France was unable to get anything going offensively in the third, as Gilgeous-Alexander opened up. After finding Brooks on the wing for three to give Canada a 46-40 lead, the Toronto, ON native went on a personal tear, scoring the next 15 points for Canada, a stretch that included pull ups, a transition three and a baseline fadeaway. The offensive explosion gave Canada a 59-44 lead with 3:50 to go in the third, an advantage that they expanded to 20, 68-48, going into a fourth quarter that wound up being an easy coast to the finish line for the Canadians, who emerged with a dominant 95-65 win.
After shooting just 42 percent from the field in the first half, Canada finished the game at 44 percent, while France dropped to 42. Canada dominated the second half, outscoring France 52-25 in the final 20 minutes, and for the game shot 31 percent from three to France’s 21 percent, outrebounding their opposition 45-35, amd turning the ball over just 10 times to France’s 17. Perhaps most importantly, Fournier was held to just two points in the second half. Olynyk’s 18 points, and Brooks’ and Alexander-Walker’s 12 apiece were the other double figures point totals for the Canadians. For France, Nando De Colo and Mathias Lessort finished with 12 each. Gobert, though he did have nine rebounds, scored just eight points. Next up for France is Latvia on Sunday, August 27 at 9:30 am eastern time.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who did not score in the opening quarter, finished with a game-high 27 points on 9-for-19 from the field, while adding 13 rebounds and six assists. It was a stellar performance for the NBA All-Star, whose leading contributions will be needed even more so this tournament with the absence of Jamal Murray.
The team, in their second game of pool play, faces Lebanon on Sunday, August 27, a 5:30 am eastern tip-off. Gilgeous-Alexander believes that Friday’s performance could be just the tip of the iceberg for a national team that has high expectations for the first time ever.
“Everytime we step on the floor, everytime we practice, everytime we get together, we get better,” he said to reporters following the win. “If we do so, we’ll be the best version of ourselves at the end of the tournament.”
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