Sometimes pushed around in this tournament, Canada always managed to find solutions and reverse the trend. Not this time. In the semi-final, Serbia and Bogdan Bogdanovic were too strong, too solid and perfectly prepared tactically. The Canadians have clearly stumbled upon a bone.
“Congratulations to Serbia, to the players, to the coach, to this country. They played a great match on a physical level,” commented Jordi Fernandez for BasketNews. “I am proud of my players. It wasn’t perfect: we were good offensively but catastrophic in defense. With no disrespect to Serbia, we didn’t defend and it’s our fault. »
The Serbs actually finished with 95 points scored at 45% 3-point success. The Canadians also committed a lot of fouls: three players (Dillon Brooks, Lu Dort and Kelly Olynyk) finished with four fouls, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nickeil Alexander-Walker with one less, which didn’t help.
However, the coach does not want to dwell on this defeat. He’s already thinking about what’s next.
“My players work every day and progress. We move on to the next match: we are going to play for a medal. I know there’s emotion for everyone, but these guys are going to do what’s necessary to get this medal. It’s important for the country, for the players, for our program. We want to leave this tournament with the desire to do more. »
RJ Barrett, Canada’s top scorer in this match with his 23 points, is of the same opinion as his coach.
“We have more and more experience and we want to leave with a medal,” explains the Knicks player to Eurohoops. “We have to pay tribute to Serbia, they played hard, they are very well coached. We gave everything but our defense could have done better. »
