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Canada Basketball’s long process includes a well-earned, if meaningless, bronze medal

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MEXICO CITY — Stories are not defined by their endings. They are defined by their climaxes.

It would be difficult for that to be truer than in Canada’s journey at the FIBA Americas Championship. Canada played in the third-place game against Mexico on Saturday evening, ultimately winning the bronze medal 87-86. Let the record show Cory Joseph hit a game-winning shot as time expired on an impossible step-back effort. What could be more meaningless than a bronze-medal game in a tournament in which there were only two real prizes — the Olympic berths awarded to the finalists?

“This is one of those horrible games to play in,” Steve Nash, Canada’s general manager, said before the game. “You’ve just been devastated (Friday) night by not qualifying, and you’ve got to bounce back (Saturday) and play a game that really doesn’t mean a lot.“

Andrew Wiggins called Friday’s game, the one-point loss to Venezuela decided by a bewildering last-second foul call, the worst of his career.

Said Joseph: “All night, I was thinking about it.”

Canada’s loss to Venezuela, a team it beat by 20 points in the first round, will linger. It cannot be the only thing that Canada’s management takes out of the tournament, because there were so many clear positives in between the bookends here in Mexico — and again, we are not counting Saturday’s scheduled formality.

Still, it will be the enduring memory. The biggest challenge will be turning what happened into something productive. If not handled correctly, the Venezuela game could turn into an albatross for the program. It was an emotional blow. Notably, Canada Basketball had wanted to make playing internationally a pleasant experience for NBA players, yet the bitterness will last for so many: for Andrew Wiggins, whose passive game against Venezuela recalled his last game at Kansas; for Anthony Bennett, whose breakout summer vanished from memory with a second-half benching; for Andrew Nicholson, whose summer was uneven.

“At the end of the day, it’s motivation,” said Wiggins, certainly sounding committed to the program.

“There’s no place I would rather be right now than with this team.” Joseph said. “I love those guys.”

On appearances, the players cared against Mexico. Wiggins played a tournament-high 36 minutes, and there was even a post-game quasi-scrum of bad feelings involving Melvin Ejim.

When Joseph hit the game-winning shot as time expired, he responded with a violent fist pump, and his teammates mobbed him.

Eduardo Verdugo/The Associated Press
Eduardo Verdugo/The Associated PressCory Joseph and the Canada bench celebrate his winning shot at the end of Canada's 87-86 victory over Mexico.

“They’re still hurting, for sure and they’re going to hurt for a while, until they get a chance to right it next summer,” Nash said. “But at the same time I think they understand that this is a process. I think that they see what happened to them a little bit and that they weren’t themselves (against Venezuela). I think it’s something they’re well aware of and they’re smart enough guys and they’ve been through enough to know that they were in a strange spot last night. It wasn’t a natural thing for them and you need to go through this. There’s no cheating experience. There just isn’t. It’s unfortunate, but there isn’t.”

Canada will play in one of three last-chance tournaments featuring six teams each from July 5-11. Canada Basketball has had early discussions about hosting one of the tournaments. The three winners will fill out the rest of the Olympic tournament. The dates are not ideal for Canada, because of the proximity to the NBA playoffs and the Summer League. It is far too early to say who might be available, but it will be a tough ask for any player who has a long run in the post-season.

It will not serve as much solace, but Canada established a style of play here, and that is very important for its future. Sure, Venezuela stymied Canada’s fast-paced attack by trapping Canadian ball-handlers all the way in the backcourt. However, if Canada can get a few more of its better ball-handlers, such as Tyler Ennis and Jamal Murray, to join the team, it would surely help it adapt. Canada dominated 70 per cent of its games.

“Man, how good were they in this tournament?” Nash said. “They had the same nerves in the first game (as they had on Friday), right?  And they came back and they steamrolled people. I was sitting over (in the first row) shaking my head at how good they were sometimes, but youth is youth and there is no cheating experience.”

“We all thought we were past it by beating Mexico in their own country (on Tuesday). But the truth is it’s a really natural process for a young team like that that’s never had these types of collective experiences to face these types of situations and disappointments.”

If Nash and coach Jay Triano can use this as a motivational tool, perhaps Canada can rebound next summer. We are about to find out how much Canada’s burgeoning talent cares about their program.


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