Canada Cruises by China en Route to Do-or-Die Playoffs

The Canadian Senior Men's National Team is going to be in for much tougher competition in the playoffs after cruising past China to advance

It's officially do-or-die time for the Canadian Senior Men's National Team.

So far it's been the easy part of the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament. After pulling away from the Greeks on Tuesday night, the Chinese never really had a chance against Team Canada on Wednesday. Their fast-paced and chaotic style may have troubled Canada for the first few minutes, but once the Canadians settled down China never stood a chance, falling 109-79 on the second evening of the Victoria, BC tournament.

"China came out really ready to play and we knew that," head coach Nick Nurse said. "They strung together a few threes on us there to come back in a couple of different stretches of the game. But again, for the most part, we did a good job of challenging enough of their shots and limiting their second shots and certainly we did a great job at the offensive end today."

Through two games, the Canadians have been a second-half group. They've used their athleticism, speed, and stamina to smother China and Greece in back-to-back games. But Canada still has a ways to go before it'll look like the second-best team in the world, as Tomas Satoransky suggested during his pre-tournament press conference.

Over in Group B, the teams are expected to be a little tougher. Turkey's Cedi Osman had a massive 27 point game on Tuesday night and Alperen Sengun, a projected first-round pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, looked like a force to be reckoned with. While the Czechs have yet to play their first game of the tournament, Satoransky and company aren't going to be an easy out.

The key for Canada will be revving up that defensive intensity and keeping Andrew Wiggins and RJ Barrett hot. Between the two wings, who scored 20 and 16 points on Wednesday night, respectively, and Luguentz Dort, who has locked down almost everyone he's been matched up against, there's no reason Canada shouldn't come away Sunday night with a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics.

"We’ve just got to lock in. That’s the main thing," Wiggins said. "I feel like we’ll win the games (with) defense. We can score with anybody. We have a lot of talented guys. But lock in on defense and rebounding the ball are gonna be the key things.”

Up Next: Semifinals TBD

With the top seed in Group A clinched, Canada will now wait to see who is the second seed coming out of Group B. The semifinal game will be played on July 3.