There will be no meeting of Team USA and Canada in the gold medal game of the men’s basketball competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Everything was set up perfectly for the North American neighbors to meet for the gold, as they were placed on opposite sides of the bracket once the group stage was complete. And given how dominant Canada had been through the beginning of the Olympic tournament, many considered them to be the biggest threat to the United States.
But those plans were quickly derailed on Tuesday when Canada faced host country France in the quarterfinals. France got out to a 19-point lead in an eventual 82-73 win against the Canadians, a surprising upset given how both teams played so far in the tournament (Canada entered the game as an eight-point favorite). But from the opening tip, France looked like the hungrier team, holding Canada to just 10 points in the first quarter. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led Canada in scoring with 27 points, said being eliminated from medal contention hurt, “We all wanted to win. I don’t know why we started out that way, but it does. It hurts us.”
By halftime Canada was down 45-29, and while the team tried to stage a comeback, it just wasn’t enough against a French team that got some help from unlikely places. It wasn’t as if Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert dominated Canada all game long. Wemby had just 7 points, and Gobert didn’t even start the game and played just three minutes, at least partially due to a finger injury.
Instead, it was Guerschon Yabusele, the former 16th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft who played just two seasons in the league, who lit up the Canadians, finishing with 22 points. He was aided by Isaia Cordinier, a 27-year-old forward who has spent his entire professional career overseas after being selected in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft. Those were not the names anyone expected would be the ones that led to Canada’s undoing, but then again, no one could’ve predicted that Jamal Murray would look like a complete shell of himself for most of this tournament, either.
Murray entered the quarterfinals match against France averaging just 5.6 points, while shooting just 33.9% from the field. That’s a far cry from the 21.1 points and 48.1% from the the field he was averaging last season with the Nuggets. The matchup against France didn’t go any better for the NBA champion, who finished with just seven points, while going 3 of 13 from the field. For the tournament, Murray went just 2 of 14 on 3-point attempts, an eyebrow-raising number given he’s career 38% 3-point shooter.
But it wasn’t all on Murray, outside of SGA, Canada looked outmatched against France. RJ Barrett tried his best, finishing with an efficient 16 points, but no other Canadian player reached double figures in points.
“It’s really disappointing,” Canada’s Lu Dort said after the loss. “We had goals to get all the way to the end. When it gets cut short, it’s tough and we have to live with it. We have to do whatever it takes to get back in four years.”
There were lofty expectations on this Canadian team given all the NBA talent on the roster. Next to Team USA, Canada had the most NBA players in Paris, and with an MVP runner-up in Gilgeous-Alexander, they were in a prime position to at least get a medal (which would have been the first for the country since 1936). And the Canadians’ dominant performance through group play proved that. Even heading into the game against France they were considered the favorites, given that France survived a legit scare from Japan, and got blown out by Germany in the group stage. But France went with a smaller, more athletic lineup against Canada.
“We didn’t match their energy and physicality,” Canadian head coach Jordi Fernandez said. “Offensively, I thought it was our most selfish game. We didn’t share the ball.”
Canada had just 14 assists, while also committing 14 turnovers, as they struggled to take care of the ball and get anything going on offense outside of taking guys one-on-one. France had 17 turnovers, but got far better production out of their bench, with Evan Fournier and tacking on 15 of France’s 28 bench points, while Canada got just 16 points from its second unit in total. It was an uncharacteristic game from Canada, but give credit to France for taking advantage of the situation and not letting the Canadians get back in the game.
It was the first Olympic appearance for the men’s Canadian team since the 2000 Sydney Games, and while the finish isn’t exactly what the country had hoped for, looking ahead to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the future is bright. Not only should most of this roster be there in four years, but the addition of incoming NBA rookie Zach Edey should give them the necessary size to contend with countries like France and the United States. Edey pulled his name from contention for the 2024 Olympic roster as he wanted to focus on preparing for his rookie season with the Memphis Grizzlies, but he’s maintained that representing Canada on the Olympic stage is a dream of his.
Assuming Edey is on the roster in four years, as well as SGA, Barrett, Dort, and many of the guys who went to Paris, Canada should have no issue getting back to this position at the next Olympic Games.
