By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
LILLE, France – Playing against one of his mentors and the national team of his home country, coach Jordi Fernandez and his players were on a mission to prove that Canada has arrived.
They did exactly that by beating Spain, 88-85, pushing them out of the Olympic tournament and helping Australia qualify.
On the other hand, Canada finished the “Group of Death” with a perfect 3-0 record, proving their might beyond any doubt.
“They called it Group of Death for a reason”, said Canada’s coach Jordi Fernandez when asked about the intensity that his team needs to show in the quarterfinals and added: “Right now we have more experience, a player who can be X-factor like Nembhard and Dillon Brooks who you can understand how much loves to play for this team, just by watching him play”.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with 20 points was the top scorer of the exciting game. Andrew Nembhard followed with 18 points. RJ Barrett added 16 points.
Dario Brizuela with 17 points stood out for the Spanish national team and Rudy Fernandez in his last basketball game went scoreless (0/5 FG) and has also two rebounds and one assist.
The crucial second period
The first quarter ended up with all-tied at 19. However, Spain never led with more than three points and Canada jumped to a 49-38 halftime lead by scoring 30 in the second period.
Practically this difference decided the game with Canada closing the half on a 9-2 run and Shai scoring five of these points.
Spain didn’t back down and managed to trim the lead to 5 points (61-56) in the third period and to 3 points in the fourth (68-65), but Canada once more had the answers with another 8-2 run (76-67) and Dillon Brooks scoring four crucial points.
Spanish pride
With five minutes left, Spain once again tried to turn the tide and made it a three-point game (80-77) after a big three by Dario Brizuela and one of two made free throws by Sergio Llull, while the French crowd was heavily booing him.
Spain kept pushing and with 53.9 seconds left, Alex Abrines scored one of two free throws to cut the lead to two (82-80). The answer was a big three by RJ Barrett (85-80).
Narrowly holding on through the final seconds after Llull hit a triple and reduced the deficit to one point with 3.1 seconds left, Canada clinched the top seed and eliminated the team coached by Sergio Scariolo.
Llull had a long shot, he shot by way downtown at the buzzer, but the ball didn’t go in.
“The format is like that”, admitted Scariolo whose team was eliminated on point difference: “Greece had a good game against Australia and we couldn’t get the win over Canada. The only moment that made me a little angry was the last 40 seconds against Australia. There we lost a little our concentration when we had talked about it in the previous time-out but this is also a part of sport.”
Photo Credit: FIBA