It was not good.
The Canadian women’s basketball team arrived at its fourth consecutive Olympic tournament – and let’s not let that feat get overlooked, regardless of what happens in the next couple of weeks – hoping for a different result..
Ideally, a medal. Next best? Playing for a medal, which would mean a top-four finish for a country ranked seventh in the world in a competition that is really Team USA – gunning for an eighth straight gold and undefeated in Olympic competition since 1992 – and six or seven contenders for silver close enough in calibre you could throw a blanket over them.
What has been frustrating about following the women’s program – and these are high-class problems, to be fair – is that in its three most recent Olympic appearances, Canada failed to advance out of the quarterfinals.
Based on how they looked in their 75-54 loss to seventh-ranked France in the opener for both teams on Monday, the Canadians are going to have a hard time advancing out of the group stage for the second consecutive time at the Olympics.
It’s only one game and things can look different if Canada can regroup and win against Australia on Thursday. The Aussies – who beat Canada in the bronze-medal game at the 2022 World Cup – are ranked third in FIBA but were upset by No. 12-ranked Nigeria in the game prior to France-Canada in Lille.
Interpret that as you may: An opportunity if Canada can win against Australia and win as the favourite against Nigeria, or an indication that victory versus Nigeria – in theory the weakest team in Group B – is far from guaranteed, making Canada’s climb that much more difficult.
Regardless, if what was on display against France – the home team, granted – was the best Canada can offer, the team is in deep, deep, trouble against any opponent at this level of competition.
After a promising start and an 18-15 lead after the first quarter, Canada completely unravelled in the second quarter as France won the 10-minute period 23-2. If you squint, you can be optimistic and argue that their 10-minute no-show was (literally) the difference in the game and that the Canadians won the third quarter 16-15 and lost the fourth 22-20, but they eyes told a different story.
The Canadians looked slower and less organized and were consistently trying to catch up to the game. Granted, the quality of the shots they generated was better than the results – Canada was 1-of-11 in the pivotal second period, and 0-for-5 on threes – but it wasn’t like they were so good the rest of the game either.
For the contest Canada shot just 32 per cent from the floor and 28 per cent from three. Even discounting their nightmare of a second quarter, Canada still shot just 38 per cent in the other three quarters.
The most glaring issue in the game was Canada’s determination to let France have the ball as much as possible as Canada made 25 turnovers in the game, compared to 10 by France. Canada was lucky that France scored only 19 points off those miscues or things could have been even uglier.
You could be more charitable about how things shook out if there was a handy reason to point to – youth, inexperience, injury or, let’s say, a lack of continuity, maybe.
But none of those apply. In Canada’s starting lineup you had a four-time Olympian (Natalie Achonwa, the most appearances by a Canadian basketball player ever), a three-time Olympian (Kia Nurse) and three two-time Olympians (Kayla Alexander, Shay Colley and Bridget Carleton).
What about off the bench?
Nope. Nirra Fields is a three-time Olympian, and Aaliyah Edwards and Laeticia Amihere – each active in the WNBA this season – were on the Olympic team in Tokyo.
This group has a tendency to start this tournament slowly. In Tokyo, Canada shot 19-of-53 on twos and committed 18 turnovers in a 10-point loss to Spain in the opener, a big reason the team didn’t get out of the group stage.
So we’ve seen this movie before.
On the bright side, Canada did get a win in pre-tournament preparation against Australia last week. At the very least, it seems impossible that this group, as experienced as they are, will stumble as badly for a second game in a row.
But as the Canadians go into what is a crucial match-up with the favoured Australians desperate for a win, the very sudden reality is that their dreams of an Olympic medal – or even having a chance to compete for one – will depend on them playing somewhere near their best only days after playing very nearly their worst.
Here are some takeaways from the opener:
Defence struggles
Canada’s defence was somewhere between poor and non-existent for long stretches of the game. Beyond the turnovers France feasted on, the lasting image from Monday was one French ball-handler after another breaking down Canada’s perimeter defenders and either getting straight-line drives to the rim or generating wide-open looks for teammates.
And it wasn’t only what seemed like an endless supply of athletic guards and wings putting it on the floor – though Marine Johannes and Gabby Williams in particular were problems Canada had no answer for. But even Alexia Chery, one of France’s post players, generated a wide-open look when she attacked a sluggish Canadian close out in the third quarter.
Canada has some talent – only Team USA and Australia have more players with WNBA experience on their resumes – but if they don’t commit to being a defensively sturdy team, they don’t have enough to overcome an opponent scoring 40 points in the paint on 65-per cent-shooting, as France did. It has to be cleaned up.
Coaching questions
Admittedly if feels like cherry-picking to watch one game and begin dissecting coaching decisions, but keep in mind Canada didn’t play very well in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament either, losing to Spain and Japan and only advancing to the Olympics because of Spain’s 22-point comeback against Hungary eliminated the home team.
After a solid first quarter, Victor Lapena went deep into his bench in the disastrous second quarter – it seemed like the horn signalling substitutions was blowing on every whistle as he had played 10 different players by midway through the period.
The quick hooks were even more glaring considering Alexander and Carleton played 35 and 36 minutes for the game, respectively, and Nurse played 26 minutes. There were a lot of short stints elsewhere and it’s hard to imagine anyone settling into a rhythm in that context.
Interestingly, the last Canadian who took the floor was Sami Hill – perhaps Canada’s best guard at the OQT tournament. She was subbed in with 1:41 left in the second quarter. Hill was one of Canada’s most effective players the rest of the way – her quickness aggressiveness stood out – and was the only player to see the floor who finished with a positive +/-.
Given that Shay Colley struggled – when your starting point guard has eight turnovers, you might be in trouble – distributing some of her minutes might be worth considering.
There were other hard-to-figure decisions: Fields, Canada’s best on-ball shot creator. not seeing the floor in the second half; and limiting Amihere to 2:19 in the first half while Cassandra Prosper – a college player in her first Olympics – played 3:19 over two stints and was -10. Make some shots and get some stops and it all blows over, but from a distance there seemed to be some odd choices.
Experience doesn’t always pay off
Achonwa, Carleton and Nurse have nine Olympic appearances and 22 WNBA seasons of experience, collectively and for Canada to reach its potential, they all have to play well. None of them did on Monday.
They all started and played steady minutes, but they simply did not produce as they were 8-for-22 from the floor with nine turnovers between them. Defensively, they were as culpable as anyone as well. They need to be better, or Canada’s fourth straight Olympic appearance will be brief.