Unbeaten Canada tops Spain at Olympic basketball, advances to quarters

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Canada’s men’s basketball team remained undefeated in its return to the Summer Olympics with an 88-85 win over Spain on Friday in Lille, France.

Canada eliminated Spain — ranked No. 2 in the world and a medalist in three of the previous four Olympics — thanks to a balanced effort, though the Spaniards kept it tight throughout, heaving a three-point attempt at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 20 points. Andrew Nembhard had 18, most in an outstanding second half. Gilgeous-Alexander found RJ Barrett for a crucial three-pointer late.

Dario Brizuela scored 17 for Spain, which could have topped the so-called Group of Death with a win, but instead was eliminated at 1-2. That’s how close Group A was. Canada had already advanced to the quarter-finals, but had a shot at finishing group play with either the second or third-best record on the line.

The higher the finish, the greater the odds of avoiding No. 1 USA until the final, should they get that far. Canada stormed back last summer to upset and eliminate Spain at the FIBA World Cup on the way to a bronze medal. That game finished with the same score as Friday’s. Gold medalist Germany throttled Olympic host France later Friday in a game with implications for Canada. Canada will be seeded third heading into the quarters, which will be played in Paris on Tuesday and will take on France, barring a historic upset by Puerto Rico over the Americans on Saturday. In that case it would be Serbia, winners over Canada at the World Cup on the way to silver. Either way, Canada will have to deal with a generational big man in 7-foot-5 Victor Wembanyama, or three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic before a medal is even at stake.

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Canada led 49-38 at the half but Spain got within a point with 2.7 seconds remaining before Gilgeous-Alexander, who had uncharacteristically struggled at the free throw line earlier, hit a pair.

“Obviously, they didn’t want to go away,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters in Lille. “They were playing for their lives. We knew that going to the game, it’s a really good team. We played them last summer, and we know it. They gave us everything they had and it was a good game.”

The NBA MVP runner-up knows there is still plenty to be shored up by Canada moving forward. Back in 2000, the most recent Canadian Olympic appearance in men’s basketball, Canada stormed through the group stage, even beating mighty Yugoslavia, only to lose at the wrong time to France and get eliminated. That team finished seventh despite going 5-2. Tuesday could bring a chance at revenge nearly a quarter of a century later.

Canada struggled on the boards against Spain and will need to be a lot better, whether it’s Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert next, or Jokic and the other Serbian giants.

“Yeah, rebounding tonight. Being disciplined defensively, fouling jump shooters and then that’s pretty much it I’d say. As long as we keep getting better, we’ll be all right,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Fouling jump shooters, rebounding, being a little bit more disciplined, and then I think stagnant in certain areas of the game, offensively.”

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Canada got quality play from its bench, particularly Nembhard, who was huge in the victory and in an around effort from NBA star Jamal Murray. Though Murray was quiet again offensively, scoring only four points, one of his baskets was a big one and he also added six assists and four rebounds.

Head coach Jordi Fernandez was pleased with the 3-0 record of his team, but like Gilgeous-Alexander knows there is plenty of room for improvement.

“They won that second half. We were not good enough in that second half. I think we were a little loose with our execution,” Fernandez said. “We were not good with rebounding throughout the game, but we found a way. And when you don’t have experience in this type of games and you don’t know what this type of games mean, the only way that you can get experience is going through it. Now we have a group of guys that have gone through a World Cup now, the Olympics, and I think right now our experience is taking us to the next level,” he said. “Being 3-0, it’s a great accomplishment. So we all have to be happy at the same time, I want to be better as a group. I want to close games better, and that’s something we’ll figure out at some point.”

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