For the first time since they took down the former Yugoslavia on September 25, 2000, Canada has won a men’s basketball game at the Olympics.
It was a wire-to-wire win for Canada, and although the fourth quarter surely ended up being closer and more anxious then they would have liked, they got the job done by defeating Greece 86-79.
RJ Barrett bookmarked the game with two buckets.
He had the game’s opening basket, a driving lefty layup through traffic to give Canada a 2-0 lead. In the dying seconds, after a huge defensive stop by Canada, he snuck behind Greece’s defence and slammed home a ferocious dunk to put an exclamation mark on a win for Canada.
His father, Rowan Barrett, was playing when the Canadian men last competed in an Olympic tournament at Sydney 2000. A generation later, with Rowan serving as the general manager of Canada Basketball, his son was the leading scorer in Canada’s first Olympic win in 24 years.
“It means a lot,” RJ said post-game. “Last time (Canada) was here he was playing and I was just born… Fast forward 24 years and it’s a crazy experience.”
Things started out well as Canada got out to a 19-7 lead midway through the first. Dillon Brooks hit two jumpers early, Barrett slashed his way to the rim and scored on the inside, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit two off-the-dribble jumpers to put Canada ahead.
The biggest challenge for any team that plays Greece is their 6-foot, 11-inch NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak represented a matchup problem for Canada – he’s taller than anyone on Canada’s roster who could match his physicality, and stronger than anyone who can match his height.
Early on, Canada was effective in guarding by committee, as Brooks, Dwight Powell, and Trey Lyles limited Antetokounmpo’s looks and made him a facilitator.
However, it was Greece’s three point shooting that got them back in the game. They hit four in the first quarter including a Kostas Papanikolaou three that cut Canada’s lead to two.
Every time Greece looked to pull ahead, Canada responded with a run. Their biggest came at the start of the second half as Dillon Brooks laced his third three-pointer of the game with 8:13 remaining in third quarter to give Canada its largest lead, 56-40.
That’s when the foul trouble started. Lu Dort picked up his fourth foul early in the third, forcing Jordi Fernandez to lean on his bench. Then it was Brooks and Powell who also got into foul trouble, forcing them to the bench.
Antetokounmpo and Greece took advantage by attacking the paint and putting pressure on an undersized Canada. They were aggressive on defence too and Canada stalled. From the 9:12 mark to the 4:56 mark of the fourth, Canada was held without a point as Greece inched closer.
Two threes from Canada gave fans a chance to catch their breath. Lu Dort broke the scoring drought with his three, and an SGA three on a stepback gave Canada a 78-68 lead with 4:23 remaining.
Antetokounmpo continued to hunt mismatches and put the pressure on Canada at the other end, as Dort and Brooks fouled out within minutes of each other late in the fourth.
With one minute left, Greece’s ball pressure forced Trey Lyles into a turnover at halfcourt, and Antetokounmpo slammed home a basket to cut the lead to two.
In need of a bucket, Captain Canada took control. SGA isolated at the top of the key to kill the shot clock, broke down his defender as he dribbled toward the basket, and kissed an off-leg floater off the backboard over an outstretched Antetokounmpo to give Canada a four-point lead. Ultimately, it was the decisive basket in the win.
“Great teams with a lot of experience are going to punch back, and they did,” said head coach Jordi Fernandez following the win. “They kept us stagnant toward the end… But I give credit to our guys. They fought they found a way.”
“At the end of the day I’m happy with the win. We know we can play better for 40 minutes,” Fernandez said.
Canada will now look ahead to their matchup with Australia on Tuesday.
The Aussies upset Spain earlier in the day by a score of 92-80. They have an identical record to Canada at 1-0, but sit atop of Group A due to a better point differential.
