Canada stunned by France, exits in quarterfinal round of men’s basketball tournament

Canada’s quest for its first Olympic medal in men’s basketball came to a sudden end after losing to host nation France in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

After going 3-0 in the group stage, Canada came out flat against France, and despite a valiant comeback attempt, lost by a score of 82-73.

France was aggressive on defence as Canada’s offence sputtered, and the electric crowd at Bercy Arena in Paris seemingly rattled the Canadians early on. They missed shots, forced passes, and for the first time in the tournament, looked out of sync on both ends.

France led by 13 after the first quarter, and the lead grew to 19 to begin the second half. Canada got to within five, but could not close the gap.

With 1:46 left in the game and Canada down seven, France rebounded two of their own missed threes before Evan Fournier drained a heave from well behind the three-point line. France took 50 seconds off of the game clock in that possession alone, and with a 10-point lead, effectively sealed the win.

“They came out the aggressors,” said Shai-Gilgeous Alexander. “They punched us in the mouth.”

Canada’s last quarterfinal game at the Olympics came during their last appearance, 24 years ago in Sydney. Back then, they were led by Steve Nash, 26 years old at the time, emerging as one of the best young guards in the world of basketball, and poised to take Canada to the medal round.

They matched up against France, the eventual silver medal-winning team, and were outscored 38-23 in the first half. They tried to mount a comeback in the second half, but could not close the gap, losing by five points.

Canada went on to miss the next five Olympic Games in men’s basketball, until they returned this year.

Unfortunately for Team Canada and its fans, history repeated itself on Tuesday.

France came out with all the intensity and execution needed to take control of the game.

They put Victor Webanyama, Guerschon Yabusele and Mathias Lessort in post-ups against smaller Canadian defenders, and bludgeoned their way to the rim, drawing fouls and finding shooters when the defence collapsed.

Gilgeous-Alexander – Canada’s 26-year-old star point guard – would provide some hope in the second quarter. With Canada’s offence halted, he got into the lane and hit his patented mid-range jumpers. He stepped back into a corner three, catching France’s defence sagging. He scored 11 straight points, cutting the lead to 10, just to give fans a chance to breathe.

But France was relentless, closing the second quarter on an 8-2 run to take a 16-point lead to halftime.

France shot 25 free throws to Canada’s eight in the first half, as the Canadians could not defend without fouling.

“Obviously we knew that the home crowd would help,” said head coach Jordi Fernandez. “Obviously there was big free throw disparity that didn’t help either.”

Things improved for Canada in the second half. SGA continued to score and draw free throws. Some good minutes from Khem Birch and Trey Lyles helped match France’s size.

At the start of the fourth, RJ Barrett scored a quick five points to cut the lead to six — the closest it had been since the opening minutes.

With two minutes to go, Lu Dort turned defence into offence with an emphatic steal and lay-up, cutting it to five with 2:04 left.

“We kept fighting and kept coming. When you’re shooting free throws to cut it to (four points), that means, where I come from, that means ‘fight’,” said Fernandez.

But Canada could not fight their way back into the lead.

Canada gave France extra possessions late by failing to secure defensive rebounds. Two Evan Fournier threes in the fourth provided the dagger.

Canada shot just 38% as a team, and an even worse 24% from three.

“Offensively I thought it was our most selfish game,” said Fernandez. “For us it’s always been playing with pace, touching the paint and reversing the basketball. That’s what we’ve done for the most part, but not in the game you have to win to stay in the tournament.”

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with a team-high 27 points on 9-for-19 shooting, while Barrett added 16 points, capping off an impressive tournament for both players. The rest of the team struggled offensively, shooting a combined 27%.

In the end, Canada finishes their first Olympic Games in 24 years in fifth place.

“They played better than us. They played harder than us. That’s what happens when you let teams get out to a good start,” said SGA post-game.

When asked why Canada started out the way they did, SGA responded:

“Honestly, I have no clue. We all wanted to win – I don’t know why we started like that, but we did.”