MEXICO CITY -
As thunder and lightning crackled loudly outside the Palacio de los Deportes, Canada was rudely welcomed to the big-time — once again — by perennial powerhouse Argentina at the FIBA Americas tournament on Tuesday afternoon.
Two years after Argentina knocked Canada out of this tournament, Luis Scola and Co. did it again, teaching Canada a few lessons while totally outplaying them in a 94-87 win.
Scola, who is the three-time defending MVP of this tournament, looks to be on the way to a fourth-straight award. He had 28 points in a win against Puerto Rico on Monday, then pulverized Canada to the tune of 35 points and 13 rebounds in another masterclass from the wizened veteran.
Canada’s top scorers — Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett — managed just 13 points apiece and the team shot just 42% from the field.
Argentina wasn’t just more efficient, despite being far older, Scola and his teammates seemed to have much more energy and desire than their counterparts. There was some talk after the game that the former Olympic champions and world silver-medalists had been a bit perturbed about all the hype Canada’s NBA-player-laden roster had been getting at the expense of the proven contenders.
Whatever it was, Jay Triano and his staff are now searching for answers.
“We have to play free,” Triano said afterward.
“It seemed like we were hesitant at the offensive end. Maybe it was the importance of the game, maybe it was because it was the first game, but we just seemed very hesitant compared to the way we were playing. We’ve been moving the ball well, we’ve been attacking well. We play hesitant, we’re going to turn it over and it’s going to lead to easy points. They got 20 points off of our turnovers and that’s a big difference.”
It was a rough return to action for starting centre Kelly Olynyk, who was back after missing three games due to a left knee injury. Olynyk did have a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds), but shot just 4-for-13 and was one of Scola’s choice victims, repeatedly getting scored on in various ways.
“He’s a really good player, he’s got a lot of stuff to his game,” Olynyk said of Scola. “He can shoot the ball, drive, closeout, in the post, up-and-unders, lots of fakes. He’s a guy that you’ve got to stay disciplined on. Through their offence, he touched the ball two, three, four times a possession. It’s tough to guard. We’ve got to guard him with five guys and we didn’t do a great job on him tonight.”
Canada actually led by three after a sloppy first quarter, using the team’s quickness and athleticism advantages.
That didn’t last though, as foul trouble and a stagnant offence forced Triano to use 11 of his 12 players in the first half.
A 7-0 Canada run to start the third wiped out a 46-42 Argentina lead, but the Argentines dominated Canada on the boards, a big change for a team that had spent all summer winning the rebounding battles. Canada’s rebounding prowess had helped it win many games, but Argentina was far better in that regard in this one and it helped them stick around, before a 13-2 run put Canada in trouble.
The offence lacked flow and down the stretch, the veterans made their buckets — including a three-pointer from former NBAer Andres Nocioni that was the dagger — while Canada looked confused.
Luckily for the Canadians, there are still three games to be played in this round, starting Wednesday against a weak Cuban team, giving the team plenty of opportunities to correct its mistakes.
“Tomorrow we have to bring lots of energy. Keep doing what we’ve been doing the last two weeks, playing together, playing as one, moving the ball,” Olynyk said.
“When you do that kind of stuff the ball goes in the basket, guys find each other. When you do that as a team, it’s really uplifting. We have to shore up the defensive end and play a little harder.”
Added point guard Cory Joseph: “They played harder than us, they executed their game plan ... got a lot of 50-50 balls and basically just out-worked us.”
Talent will only get you so far. Effort and energy also go a long way on the basketball court.
Argentina sent Canada a not-so-friendly reminder of that on Tuesday.
The teams cannot meet again until the semifinals at the earliest.
That’s probably a good thing.
“It’s not the outcome we wanted, we beat them the last two times we played them, we beat them a week ago, but, this is the one that matters and they were more up to the task than we were today,” Triano said.
That will need to change. In a hurry.