PARIS — The Canadian men’s basketball team is attempting to shed the weight of history in the 2024 Olympic Games. The national team, playing its first game in the Olympics since 2000 at Sydney when Steve Nash of Victoria was captain of the team, defeated former two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece 86-79 before 26,421 fans at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille to open the 2024 Olympic tournament on Saturday.
There have been deep Olympic runs for Canada — to the semifinals in 1976 at Montreal backed by the mercurial shooting-guard Billy Robinson of Chemainus and to the semifinals at Los Angeles in 1984 led by University of Victoria stars Eli Pasquale, Gerald Kazanowski and Greg Wiltjer — but no medals since Canada’s lone trip to the Olympic podium in hoops.
Now, the reverberations from that silver medal won at then-portentous Berlin in 1936 by Victoria players Doug Peden and Art and Chuck Chapman are being felt in Lille as Canada’s Golden Generation of NBA players is touted to reach the podium for the first time since.
But it took a nervy Canadian effort to overcome 34 points from Antetokounmpo. Canada led only 82-79 in the waning moments before Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets sank two crucial free throws to put it away, but only barely. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who many believe will become the first Canadian to win the NBA MVP award since St. Michaels University School graduate Nash back to back in 2005 and 2006, led Canada with 23 points. Nash’s godson R.J. Barrett of the Toronto Raptors, whose dad Rowan Barrett played with the Island product as Canada went 5-2 in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, scored 21 points.
“We played against one of the best players in the world in Giannis and he put on a show,” said Canadian head coach Jordi Fernandez. “We tried and we couldn’t stop him [but] we found a way [to win].”
The victory was a reprise of Canada’s 97-91 win over Greece in the 2021 qualifying tournament at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre for the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics. But neither team made it to Tokyo as the Czech Republic stunned both Canada and Greece in Victoria to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
Canada plays world No. 5 Australia, which beat Spain 92-80 in its opener, in Lille on Tuesday.
The Canadian women’s team, which held its pre-Paris Olympics training camp in Victoria that included an exhibition win over Portugal at the Memorial Centre, opens Monday against host France in what will be a boisterous crowd in Lille.
