JAKARTA RAYA, INDONESIA — Sunday afternoon’s game for the Canadian men’s national team did not just represent an opportunity in the moment, but also represented an opportunity to extinguish past international failures and truly usher in a new era of Canadian basketball.
After three quarters of play on Sunday afternoon in their win-or-go-home game against Spain, it did not look like the ushering was going to happen.
However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks had other ideas.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 30 points, was crucial from the three-point line and the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, and Brooks came up huge with timely three-pointers and stout defense, as both led the charge for Canada’s 88-85 victory.
Like they have most of the tournament, Canada started slow, down 18-12 in the first quarter before a 7-0 run that was capped by an RJ Barrett three-pointer. A three from Spain’s Alberto Diaz tied the game at 21 after one quarter.
One of the issues for Canada thus far in the tournament has been early foul trouble, and that once again was the case on Sunday.
After Brooks hit a hanging finger roll to tie the game at 28, Barrett picked up his second foul, and after a Gilgeous-Alexander three ball, picked up his third foul with 4:03 to play in the half. Following a made three from former Oklahoma City guard Alex Abrines, Brooks was called for an unsportsmanlike foul against Willy Hernangomez. The former NBA big man made both free throws before hitting a jump shot, allowing Spain to take a seven-point lead on essentially the same possession. The team would maintain that lead, and then some, the rest of the quarter, as they went into halftime with a 10-point advantage, 48-38.
Playing with urgency to start the third quarter, the Canadians cut the lead to two on a three from Barrett and tied the game, 52-52, on a layup from Brooks with 5:46 remaining in the third.
Canada got sloppy though, turning the ball over, and Spain capitalized at the end of the quarter, going on an 11-0 run that included five points from Santi Aldama and an alley-oop at the third quarter buzzer from Dario Brizuela to Usman Garuba. Spain led 73-61 after three.
Having got back into the game only to lose the lead, it was imperative that Canada started the fourth quarter out strong, which they did. Over the first two minutes and 17 seconds, the Canadians went on a 8-0 spurt, with Brooks hitting a key three-pointer from the left wing for his 17th points, making the score 73-69.
Spain went on a cold spell over the next two minutes, but Canada was unable to make the most of it, leaving 12 points on the board on long distance misses from Barrett and Dort and misses inside from Brooks.
Down 78-71 with four minutes to go after free throws from Willy Hernangomez, things looked dire for the Canadians. However, Nickeil Alexander-Walker connected on a major three-pointer from the corner, with 3:38 remaining.
Canada once again got sloppy, turning the ball over with chances to tie the game, but Gilgeous-Alexander, after Hernangomez missed a layup off the glass, scored on an inside, left-handed finger roll and completed the three-point play, putting Canada within one, 78-77. Hernangomez, with 1:32 remaining, connected on free throws to put Canada’s deficit at three, 80-77.
Brooks, then, came up big.
On a slip screen, Brooks retreated to the left wing, and caught a pass from Gilgeous-Alexander in his shooting pocket and drilled the three, tying the game. Gilgeous-Alexander, after Brooks forced a turnover with great on-ball defense, hit a step-back jumper just inside the three-point line, giving Canada a 82-80 lead with 42.2 seconds remaining in the fourth.
On the next possession, the most important defensively all tournament for the Canadians, Alexander-Walker deflected a Dario Brizuela entry pass, and Lu Dort recovered the ball. Gilgeous-Alexander hit both free throws, with 21.4 remaining, effectively giving Canada enough of a cushion, 84-80, to secure the win. Gilgeous-Alexander hit four additional free throws the rest of the way, with an Aldama three-pointer setting Spain up for a last second heave that missed, clinching the 88-85 final.
14 of Gilgeous-Alexander’s 30 points came from the line, on 16 attempts from the stripe. Brooks finished with 22 points on 8-for-12 from the field, including hitting each of his three attempts from beyond the arc. Barrett, despite struggling late in the game after scoring 11 in the first quarter, finished with 16. Hernangomez finished with a Spain-high 25 points, while Aldama added 20 and Abrines 11. For the game, Canada shot 49 percent to Spain’s 47.
The defensive turnaround in the fourth was keyed by Brooks, whose aggressive play and leadership was apparent throughout.
“Find a way to get to the paint, create, and find a way to get stops,” Brooks told Sportsnet’s Arash Madani about what led to the fourth quarter rally. “It was a whole five (players), guys sacrificing. That’s what we missed in that last game.”
The reason Canada needed to win Sunday’s contest was as simple as advancing in this FIBA World Cup and earning an Olympic bid. On the surface, it could seem like that was it.
But, the victory represented more to Canadian basketball and its fans.
For years, the team had its struggles, as recently as the 2015 FIBA semifinal when a team comprised of current and/or former NBAers Kelly Olynyk, Dwight Powell, Cory Joseph, Andrew Nicholson, Nik Stauskas, Anthony Bennett, and their top player at the time, Andrew Wiggins, lost a 79-78 heartbreaker to Venezuela. Most recently, too, was the 2021 defeat to Czech Republic, 103-101 in overtime, on Canadian turf in Victoria, British Columbia. That team also had Barrett and Alexander-Walker, Wiggins, and Sacramento King Trey Lyles.
The future of Canada basketball, though, has promised to be different. The current Canadian crop in the NBA speaks to that. The talent level has never been as high, or as good, as it is right now. As Dort said to Arash Madani following the second-round defeat to Brazil this past week, “trust us.”
That trust was never more on the line than in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against Spain. The belief in, to this point, the best national team that Canadian men’s basketball has ever produced, never stronger. To get the job done, and secure not only a quarterfinal berth in this FIBA World Cup, but also a spot in the 2024 summer Olympic Games in Paris, France.
In the end, they got it done.
“That’s our goal, to find a way to get in,” Brooks told Madani. “RJ had a strong first half, Shai kept it through and we found a way to fight throughout the whole game.”
Gilgeous-Alexander also recognizes the historical significance of what Sunday’s game meant. 2024 will be the first time in 24 years that the men’s team competes in the Olympics. Last time, in 2000, two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Steve Nash led the team.
“We’re a part of history,” Gilgeous-Alexander told Madani. “To be a part of that is a blessing and an honor. So many people along the way have put in so much work for this program. We want to thank them and represent them when we go (to the Olympics) and in the rest of this tournament.”
Canada will meet Slovenia and NBA superstar Luka Doncic in the quarterfinal on Wednesday, Sept. 6. The other quarterfinal matchups are the United States vs. Italy, Germany vs. Latvia, and Lithuania vs. Serbia.
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