Gold Medal Dreams Fade as Canada Falls to Serbia in Semifinals of World Cup
Canada’s magic finally wore out.
The Senior Men’s National Basketball team accomplished virtually everything it set out to do in this FIBA World Cup. The group bounced back from a devastating loss to Latvia only to clinch an Olympic berth in a nailbiter against the Spanish. Days later, Canada clinched a semifinal spot at the World Cup for the first time in program history. But a 95-86 loss Friday morning to Serbia will keep the program off the very top of the podium this weekend.
There’s nothing to be ashamed of for the Canadians who hung with a talented and well-coached Serbian squad all morning. Even without NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, the Serbian offense was firing on all cylinders. Bogdan Bogdanovic was raining down buckets in the first half with Canada unable to find answers defensively. When he slowed in the second half, the supersized Nikola Milutinov proved too much to handle for the Canadians.
Every time Canada called on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the All-NBA superstar rose to the challenge throughout the tournament. On Friday, though, foul trouble plagued him all morning. An offensive push-off midway through the first quarter tagged the Torontonian with his second foul and forced Canada to turn to its bench.
Without Gilgeous-Alexander, things quickly began to unravel.
A 9-0 run by Serbia late in the first was the first sign of trouble for the Canadians who quickly found themselves mired with foul issues. With Canada unable to play its typically physical brand of defense, Serbia began to pull away in the second.
It got as close as five points in the third, but even when Canada did get stops, the offense couldn’t quite keep up. A trio of missed opportunities in the fourth for the Canadians eventually ended with a Nikola Jovic three-pointer that gave Serbia a double-digit.
RJ Barrett tried to keep Canada around with his best performance of the tournament, a team-high 23-point showing, but a missed three-pointer late in the fourth proved critical. Bogdanovic responded with a three of his own in the corner and any hope for a Canada comeback was over.
The tournament, though, marked the beginning of a new chapter in Canadian basketball history. This group ended a 23-year Olympic drought and reached heights never achieved by a Canadian team at the World Cup. But the work is not done yet.
Canada still has a chance to medal early Sunday morning when the Canadians take on the loser of the USA-Germany game at 4:30 am ET.
