What went wrong? Canada eliminated by France in quarterfinals
History repeats itself.
It was 24 years ago in the Sydney Olympics that Canada faced France in the quarterfinals, hoping to reach the semis for the first time since 1984.
Instead, Canada never led. They began the game out of sync with seven first quarter turnovers and 3-15 shooting. Ball handling especially was an issue. Halfway through the quarter, the Canadians were already down 16-5. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did his best to carry a squad that couldn’t score elsewhere early on. Shai dropped in 11 consecutive points for Canada to cut an early 16 point deficit back to single digits. Shai had a game-high 27 overall.
Even when Canada got defensive stops, many possessions saw Canadians fumble potential defensive rebounds to France that resulted in second chance points.
RJ Barrett and Luguentz Dort made key plays in the second half to bring Canada with five points. But the uphill climb all game long was too much to overcome.
France’s unsung heroes
What makes this loss particularly upsetting is that the damage wasn’t done from France’s stars. Rudy Gobert was removed from the starting lineup, as France decided to play smaller. Victor Wembanyama (7 pts, 12 reb on 2-10 shooting) spent long portions of this game hoisting up threes, missing all six of them. This is also a team that nearly lost to Japan in group play, then was embarrassed by Germany. France’s 2-1 record coming in was shaky at best.
Isaia Cordinier got the ball rolling with back to back threes and 10 first quarter points that helped France pull away. When Shai went on his run in the second quarter, Cordinier dropped in another back breaking three. He finished with 20 points.
Guerschon Yabusele (team high 22 points) and Mathias Lessort also came to the rescue, playing the power forward position while Wemby was at centre with Gobert out (played only 3:41 mins). Their physicality on both ends frustrated Canada, who had a legitimate reason to be upset at times. Lessort got away with shoving away Canadians on numerous plays that France ended up scoring on. However that is also the result of a smaller Canadian team that likes to switch. Too often, a guard was given the task of holding up Lessort, which just wasn’t going to happen. He got France in the bonus early, which was a huge reason why the free throw disparity in the first half was 25-8. 14 of France’s 42 free throws were attempted by Lessort alone.
Evan Fournier
Fournier is also a regular starter that came off the bench for this game, but he was huge down the stretch. After Barrett cut France’s lead to five, Fournier knocked down a massive three. He then ran over Dwight Powell for a layup and was called for the foul, however the basket counted because he shot before the contact. That ruling confused many.
This desperation heave from Fournier was an absolute dagger with a minute left. He’s not new to having big games in international play. Fournier finished with 15 points.
Basketball
— Radio-Canada Sports (@RC_Sports) August 6, 2024: « Evan Fournier avec un missile du milieu du terrain! »
76-66
@OliParle #Paris2024 #jeuxolympiques #rcsports pic.twitter.com/7LVbuA3sKn
The Jamal Murray conversation
Simply put, Murray has not been himself since the end of the NBA regular season. He made two game winners against the Lakers in the playoffs and had 35 points against Minnesota in a Game 7 defeat, but Murray’s big game reputation has taken a massive hit outside of that. Murray was slowed down by a calf injury in April and May, and its unknown what is possibly ailing him now.
It wasn’t too long ago that Murray was considered Canada’s best basketball player until Gilgeous-Alexander leaped into superstardom. Coming off a championship in 2023 with the Nuggets, he was second best in most circles. Dreams of a devastating Shai-Jamal backcourt dominating were relished coming into these Olympics. But Murray’s inconsistent play led to him coming off the bench and shooting 3-13 in a must win game. His patented midrange jumpers and relocation threes just couldn’t fall. Murray also became turnover prone, most of them of the live ball variety that led to transition offence for France.
Big Picture
Yes, home cooking calls played a part. However Canada also didn’t play well enough to win this game. The lack of size came back to bite them, with their older bigs like Kelly Olynyk not really being suited to battle in a game of this magnitude. Younger talent at the frontcourt position is definitely a priority for the future.
France moves on to play Germany in the semi-finals. If the Germans beat them convincingly again, this loss looks even worse.
Hopes to medal will have to wait until 2028 in Los Angeles.
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