LAVAL, Que. – The mission is to qualify for the FIBA World Cup of Basketball in China in a year’s time. But it’s a war of attrition played out in small skirmishes over 15 months rather than a single flash point, and Canada is barely halfway there.
But some engagements are bigger than others and Canada’s opening game of the second phase of qualifying at home against Brazil was in that category.
That Canada prevailed 85-77 doesn’t mean they can punch a ticket to Beijing just yet, but it was a giant step forward.
It played out as you might expect in a game between two teams tied for first in their pool with identical 5-1 records – tense and hard fought.
Canada led for most the game, and by as much as 13 early in the second half, but they needed a pair of crucial triples in the final two minutes by Kevin Pangos to hold Brazil at bay after they had cut the Canadian lead to six.
The win puts Canada in control of their destiny, although with five games left to play in the second phase they can’t coast entirely, but for the moment they can exhale.
“Great win for us, in our situation,” said Kelly Olynyk, who finished with 20 points and 19 rebounds in 35 minutes, leading both teams in all three categories. “We haven’t played together a lot, and to come in and put together a squad and get one win against Brazil here is huge … the more we play together the better we’re going to get, and this is one step in the right direction for us.”
Canada started the fourth quarter with a 64-56 lead, having controlled much of the game but were unable to completely shake Brazil, easily the best team they have faced to his point in the qualifying process.
They did the job with balanced scoring – six players finished in double figures – and impressive ball movement as Canada finished with 25 assists on 33 made field goals. Canada shot 51 per cent from the floor and 14-of-33 from deep. They held Brazil to 48 per cent from the floor and most importantly, 5-of-20 from behind the three-point line.
The game was played before respectable crowd of 4,512 at Place Bell, the sparkling new arena whose primary tenant is the Montreal Canadiens’ AHL farm team, the Laval Rocket. While capacity was 10,000, the crowd that was in place was lively, perhaps egged on by a fair number of fans wearing Brazilian colours and the general quality and pace of the game, which was high in both categories from the tip.
The team that Brazil brought north was a far cry from its most talented group but it did feature two of the South American country’s most accomplished NBA players in big man Anderson Varejao and sniper Leandro Barbosa. The pair of 35-year-olds are past their NBA primes and playing in Brazil’s domestic league – along with most of the rest of Brazil’s roster – but for one game still presented a hugely experienced and formidable inside-out combination. They had 10 and 18 points respectively.
On talent alone, Canada could boast the upper hand. Their starting lineup featured three NBA starters in their prime — Olynyk, Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph – along with Pangos, coming off an all-star season in EuroLeague and Aaron Best, who most recently was in the G-League. On the bench, they had Khem Birch, who will play with the Orlando Magic this season and Justin Jackson, a second-round pick by the Magic.
Brazilian head coach Aleksandar Petrovic called it “bad luck” that they were the only team that was going to have to play Canada with some of their NBA talent as the rest of the second round will take place during the NBA season when their NBA players won’t be available.
Still, in a single 40-minute game with a slightly shorter three-point line, and minimal preparation time for rosters and coaching staffs that have been fluid from game to game throughout the qualifying, nothing is assured.
“We have their guys, we have film on them, they’ve played before either with Brazil or elsewhere in the world, so it’s not like a complete mystery,” Olynyk was saying before the game. “But a lot of these games, you don’t have a lot of time to prepare so you can only focus on yourself and make sure you’re doing the most you can do, offensively, defensively, conceptually and go out there and try to apply it.
“You just have to go out there and play. It’s one game. You can’t leave anything back.”
The big man from the Miami Heat by way of Kamloops, B.C. certainly did just that in the second quarter. After starting the game with a pair of turnovers and looking a little bit disorganized, Olynyk caught fire just before half, splitting open a game tied 26-26. He put it on the floor and scored a lay-up, stepped out and hit a three, scored another lay-up and another three. It was a 9-0 run and he capped it with a touch-pass to Brady Heslip for another triple. By halftime, Canada was up 41-33. No player among Canada’s current wave of NBA talent has appeared in more games for the senior men’s team and in such a big moment, he clearly didn’t want to leave his best effort in the locker room.
“There’s just lot of pride and lots of passion when you put on a Canadian jersey,” he said. “There’s something about coming home and being able to wear the red and white and Canada across your chest that kind of inspires you. It’s hard to explain, it brings something else out of you.
Canada was also lifted early on by some strong play from Pangos – a teammate of Olynyk’s at Gonzaga – who was playing in his first game for the senior team since he was 16 years old and first of any kind since 2013.
A pure point guard, Pangos (10 points, eight assists) looked comfortable dictating the offence, with Cory Joseph either spelling him or playing alongside him at the two spot. The point guard for Barcelona in EuroLeague ran a smart pick-and-roll with Thompson (10 points on six shots to go with 12 rebounds) that generated a lay-up late in the clock, hit Melvin Ejim for spectacular alley-oop and created an open three for Aaron Best off a no-look pass on his way to seven first-half assists.
In the second half, it was Joseph’s turn to turn it up as the Indiana Pacers guard had four of his 16 points and six of his game-high 10 assists in the period.
“We talked about playing the right way, trying to play together all week long,” said Canadian head coach Roy Rana, in the first seat as Jay Triano – by title the national team head coach – starts a new job with the Charlotte Hornets. “Our guys were willing to make the pass, willing to share, it wasn’t about one particular person’s performance, it was about getting the win. If we keep playing this way, I think we have some really special times ahead.”
They got some help from some unexpected sources too, as Aaron Best – who was playing for Rana at Toronto’s Ryerson University three season ago – was 4-for-5 from deep, the best shooting performance from either side.
Canada led by as many as 13 in the third before an 8-0 run by Brazil cut their lead to four, but Joseph found Thompson for a dunk and Ejim for a lay-up in transition to push the advantage to eight, 64-56 at the end of 30 minutes.
The win furthered Canada’s cause significantly. With the first round of qualifying complete, there are 12 teams in the Americas trying to earn seven spots in the worlds next September in China. The top three teams in two pools of six advance, along with the side with the best record outside those six teams. Canada is now tied with Venezuela (who won against the U.S. Virgin Islands Thursday) in first in their pool with a 6-1 mark with five games to play as Brazil drops to 5-2. If Canada can win on Monday against Chile (1-5) – no sure thing as they will be without any of their NBA talent or top European pros — they would be in a commanding position, although they still have two games against Venezuela and a road date in Brazil on Dec. 3 – all games that will be played without their NBA players.
But Canada can only win against who they play and with all hands pulling on the same rope on Thursday in Laval, they took care of Brazil, which was the first order of business with an eye towards the World Cup in China a year from now.
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