By Aris Barkas / barkas@eurohoops.net
PARIS, France – Canada coach Jordi Fernandez assumed the blame for the team’s loss to France in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Olympic Games basketball tournament.
“I will always support my players. Personally, I put this one on me because I should have helped them better,” Fernandez said. “Better with two ball handlers. Better with getting better shots. Better with playing with better pace. And I couldn’t find a way. It starts with me, then we’ll come back strong.”
Canada had an ugly start in the game and never managed to truly recover. They trailed even by 19 points early in the second half before attempting a comeback in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t match their physicality and energy,” Fernandez said. Canada star Shai Gilgeous-Alexnader also made similar comments. “And I thought that then we fought. It wasn’t perfect. We won the second half. We allowed 16 and 19 points, which is more of who we are. But definitely disappointing. We didn’t share the ball offensively and that was not who we are or who we’ve been.”
“What we can control. We didn’t control it,” Fernandez added. “We didn’t rebound very well. We fouled a lot. But again, I thought that it was not judged the same way. At this point, that’s better. We just got to be better. I appreciate my players’ effort.”
Fernandez also believed that the officiating was perhaps affected by the home crowd in some moments.
“You play sometimes games like this with a home crowd, with questionable, fair officiating,” Fernandez said. “You know, I understand, but that’s still frustrating because a lot of their [referees] explanations don’t make so much sense. But it is what it is. We knew that coming here we’d have to fight against five players. And probably when you see crowds, that’s when you judge the game, that’s usually what happens.”
It was a disappointing early finale for Canada in the Olympic tournament. The team entered the competition with gold medal aspirations, considering that this was more or less the same squad that won the bronze medal in the 2023 World Cup, with the addition of an extra star in Jamal Murray
“I don’t think it’s got to be dramatic,” Fernandez said. “I think at the end of the day, these guys have worked, they’re committed to representing the country, and they work really hard for their country.”
“I think that everybody should appreciate that, Fernandez also mentioned. “Obviously, you want a better outcome, you want a better result. It didn’t happen, it’s part of sports. We have very good players, we have players that will be in the next Olympics, and that’s how we have to look at it.”