Canada Advances Past Luka Doncic's Slovenians for Historic Berth in Semis at World Cup
Canada will make FIBA World Cup history with a medal now within striking distance.
It really never should have taken this long but with the Olympic monkeys off their backs, now the reality of this moment has set in. Wednesday’s 100-89 victory over the Slovenians has moved this Canadian Men’s Senior National Basketball Team to its best World Cup finish in program history and guaranteed the program at least a spot in a medal game.
This victory was Canada’s most impressive of the tournament so far. The Canadians stayed poised throughout Slovenia’s early three-point barrage. They played near-perfect basketball even as Slovenia rained down buckets from behind the arc to stay even. Sometimes there’s just not much you can do when Luka Doncic gets going.
But when Slovenia began to slow, Canada took control. Long rebounds and bad passes by the Slovenians to open the third allowed the Canadians to get running and nobody could slow them down. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gave Canada an early second-half lead with a nifty end-to-end layup. RJ Barrett added a pair in transition and a pull-up three from Dillon Brooks ignited Canada’s offense. Brooks blew kisses as Slovenia called a timeout to quell the rally.
Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t miss a beat after his hot finish Monday morning. He got Canada started with 13 of his 31 points before the break, including a trio of crafty finishes and off-balanced jumpers in the first quarter. It was a rare hot start from the All-NBA forward who has tended to ease into games throughout the tournament thus far.
Doncic was as advertised with 26 points, five assists, and four rebounds. He generated seemingly everything for Slovenia, creating advantages in the pick-and-roll against Canada’s switching defense. Even when Brooks tried to get in his face, Doncic just shook loose for buckets. His only mistakes came when he got too fiery with the officials, eventually getting tagged with a pair of technical fouls that ended his night with just over six minutes to go.
Brooks' night came to a similar end in the fourth, disqualified from the game for his second technical in the fourth. His night finished with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
An 8-0 run by the Slovenians late in the fourth gave Canada a late scare, but Gilgeous-Alexander called his own number off a Barrett rebound, driving into the teeth of the Slovenian defense before rising up through contact for the And-1 floater. He then iced the game at the free-throw line.
Barrett chipped in with 24 points while Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 14.
Now Canada will face off with Serbia at 4:45 a.m. on Friday morning.
