Canada might have escaped with a seven-point victory in its return to Olympic men’s basketball after nearly a quarter of a century, but it was far from a gold medal effort.
Lots of things can be improved moving forward and they’ll likely have to be, since Saturday’s opening opponent, Greece, is considered the weakest side Canada will face in France.
For one, Canada will have to work on its killer instinct. Canada led Greece by 12 points with 3:22 remaining, but instead of stepping on their opponents throats, Canada instead allowed a 10-0 Greek run, resulting in a stressful finish.
While winning is the primary objective, the margin of victory could also could come into play, especially in what’s considered the most competitive of the three groups in the men’s Olympic tournament. Point differential is the first tie-breaker and one of Greece, Spain, Canada or Australia are going home after two more games (Australia beat Spain in their opener and Australia and Canada will meet on Tuesday, with the winner likely all but clinching a spot in the quarterfinals). The top two teams in the three groups advance, along with the two best third-place finishers. Canada is on paper the best team in its group and will need to drop the hammer on opponents late in games, running up the score by as much as possible because the better the point differential, the better the odds of avoiding the stacked United States team for as long as possible.
“I feel like we did a lot of things well,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters in the mix zone in France. “We were the aggressors for most of the game, especially in that first half. We were really good. We had control of the game and then I think just closing the game a little bit better defensively, offensively, I think we got good looks down the stretch, just didn’t make ’em, obviously, it’s never an excuse. You can always get stops and seal out the (win)in a nicer way. But, (Canada managed to continue) to get stops down the stretch.”
Whether it’s late or throughout, Canada can be far better offensively. Greece has a lot of plucky defenders, plus perennial NBA defensive player of the year candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo deterring forays in to the paint, but Canada should do better than 43% shooting (including 32% work on 25 three-point attempts) against most opponents. Dillon Brooks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort went a combined 7-for-11 from beyond the three-point arc, while everyone else went 1-for-14. They’re going to need a lot more help, especially since you can’t expect 88% free throw shooting in every game (Canada was brilliant at the stripe with even RJ Barrett, who has struggled from the line in the NBA, going 6-for-6).
The good news is Canada was the best offensive team at last year’s FIBA World Cup, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get better at that end of the floor. Jamal Murray, arguably Canada’s second-best player, is not yet in form and the more he plays, the better he should perform. Kelly Olynyk isn’t going to go 1-for-6 too often and Andrew Nembhard can play far better too.
