JAKARTA RAYA, INDONESIA — The Canadian men’s national team was upset Friday by Brazil in their first second-round matchup, setting up a win-or-go-home affair on Sunday vs. Spain.
The Canadians held a 52-40 lead with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter, but a rough final period proved to be their downfall in the 69-65 loss.
A slow start once again befell Canada, which has been one of their issues the entire tournament. They did not score on their first few possessions, and a three-point play from Brazil’s Leonardo Meindl gave Brazil a 12-5 lead, before Canada closed out the opening quarter with eight points to make the count 16-13 after one.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Canada’s scoring leader in the tournament, started cold, going 0-for-5 over the first 15 minutes before turning it on like he had through the first three games.
After five quick points from Lu Dort, who played after missing the past two games with soreness, gave Canada a 23-22 lead, Gilgeous-Alexander went on a run over the next three minutes. He scored seven points, part of a 9-0 Canada run that gave the team a 37-27 lead with 2:14 remaining in the half, which was the halftime score as Brazil went through a six minute stretch without scoring.
Extending their lead to 12 points, 52-40, with 1:30 remaining in the third, it looked like the Canadians were in the driver’s seat. Brazil, however, had other ideas.
With the score 52-42 near the end of the quarter, Lucas Dias hit a three-pointer at the buzzer over a contesting Dort, for three of his eight points in the game. Dort picked up a technical foul after arguing with the officials, and the technical free throw was made to close the gap to six, 52-46, after three quarters.
Diaz connected on another three-pointer 18 seconds into the fourth, and with seven minutes to go, Gui Santos made two free throws to give Brazil a 53-52 lead.
After going five minutes without scoring, Canada finally got something going, with Gilgeous-Alexander converting on a three-point play, and Dort hitting a midrange jumper for his 16th points of the game as Canada took a 57-55 lead with 4:26 remaining.
With 2:40 on the clock, Bruno Caboclo, a former Toronto Raptors’ first-round pick, scored to tie the contest at 59, and just moments later hit one of two free-throws to give Brazil a 60-59 edge. Caboclo led Brazil with 19 points and 13 rebounds. On an ensuing sequence, Gui Santos rebounded a Kelly Olynyk miss as the shot clock was winding down, and the officials ruled that Santos had possession of the ball, giving Canada a fresh 24 seconds. Dort rebounded an RJ Barrett miss, and made one of two free throws, tying the game at 60.
Another key play followed, with Dort appearing to get a corner three off on a swing pass from Dillon Brooks before the shot clock buzzer. The shot went in, which would have given a 63-62 lead. However, a replay review showed that the ball was still in Dort’s hands as the clock read zero, giving the ball to Brazil.
Yago Santos, the reigning Bundislega Most Valuable Player who finished with eight points and 10 assists, was matched up with Dillon Brooks on a switch on the next possession, and was able to get by Brooks and finish with a layup with little rim resistance from the Canadians. The play gave Brazil a 64-60 lead with 26 seconds to go, and any chance for a Canadian comeback was thwarted on the next possession as Dort lost the ball with the shot clock winding down.
Canada was outscored 24-13 in the fourth quarter, and 42-28 overall in the second half. It was by far their worst offensive performance of the tournament so far, the first game in which they failed to crack 95 points.
Although he did score a game-high 23 points, Gilgeous-Alexander made just eight of 18 shots, including just two three-point makes on seven attempts. Dort had his best game of the tournament, scoring 17 points on 6-for-11 from the field. Canada, however, was outrebounded 43-37, and was forced to go small after Powell fouled out with 4:08 to go in the game. Melvin Ejim gave a valiant effort defensively, but at 6 feet, 7 inches, is three inches shorter than the 6 foot, 10 inch Powell.
“They are a good team, they did a good job on the second chance rebounds, that’s what really kind of killed us,” Dort said of Brazil after the game to Sportsnet’s Arash Madani. “They fought hard, we have got to give credit to them but we could have done a way better job.”
With it being Canada’s only loss of the tournament, they can still advance to the quarter-finals with a victory over Spain on Sunday, Sept. 3. Spain, whom Canada defeated 85-80 in an overtime exhibition game prior to the tournament, was upset by Latvia, 74-69, earlier in the day.
After what some people would call a shocking upset, a silver lining is that Canada can turn things around and still advance with a win on Sunday. All four countries in Group L are now 3-1.
“We’ll go back and watch the film, there’s a lot of stuff we can get better at,” continued Dort. “We gotta get together as a group, we got one more chance. We still have a bigger goal.”
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