Canada’s Olympic dreams are over.
Canada came to the Paris Olympics with their most talented roster ever. They had the second best betting odds to win the gold medal, behind the Unites States.
The men’s program had sky high expectations, but they bow out to France in the quarterfinals 82-73.
The stage ended up being too big for Canada as they got off to a terrible start against France. Canada was ice cold from the field, turned the ball over a ton and their lack of size ended up being their achilles heel.
France won this game despite only getting 7 points from Victor Wembanyama. Also, Rudy Gobert only played less than 4 minutes. However, it was the non NBA players who showed up in a big way for France.
Isaia Cordinier, Frank Ntilikina, Mathias Lessort and Guerschon Yabusele combined for 60 points. Evan Fournier who doesn’t have an NBA contract going into this season scored 15 points as well.
France was able to overwhelm Canada with its size and they dominated the free throw battle, getting to the free throw line 42 times.
Meanwhile, for Canada it was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who did all he could leading the way with 27 points. Toronto Raptors forward RJ Barrett chipped in with 16 points, but there wasn’t much help outside of that.
Dillon Brooks finished with just 2 points on 1-9 shooting from the field and Jamal Murray had another bad outing finishing with 7 points on 3-13 shooting from the field. Murray had a disappointing tournament overall.
Canada just didn’t have enough ammo and size to keep up with France. This loss will hurt for Canada as they had their sights set on a medal.
Next on tap
This will go down as a disappointing Olympics for Canada. They will look to regroup and come back stronger in 2028.
Meanwhile for the host nation France, they will take on Germany in the semifinals on Aug. 8, with a trip to the gold medal game on the line.
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