MEXICO CITY – The crowd gets going well before the ball goes up. There are noisemakers. There are chants of “Mexico, Mexico, Mexico.” There are whistles and jeers and boos for the opponent.
And when the game starts the volume goes up. Way up.
Mexico may not have the basketball tradition that some other FIBA Americas countries do, but as anyone who has seen how they support their soccer teams knows, they love sports and they love their country.
Canada is about to find out exactly what that means in what could be the kind of international experience a young, growing team can build on or crumble under.
After beating an overmatched Uruguay squad 109-82 on Monday to improve to 5-1 in the tournament – 4-1 against teams that advanced to the second round – Canada has set itself up for a showdown with the home team who went into their game against Venezuela undefeated in front of their home crowd.
Even last week, Mexican journalists were predicting a madhouse for Mexico versus Canada, one of the marquee teams here with their NBA talent. And if there was any need of a reminder of what that could mean, there’s the 10-foot high chain-link fence that surrounds the upper bowl at Palacio de los Deportes. There’s been no apparent need for it – crowds have been loud but civil. Still, however, the fence is presumably there for a reason.
Almost everyone who has played internationally for Canada has had to earn their stripes in far-off places and in front of hostile home crowds. For Canada’s assistant general manager Rowan Barrett and the rest of the team that qualified for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney – the only time Canada has been at the Olympics in 28 years – it was having to beat Puerto Rico in their country in 1999 for the right to go to Sydney.
“I remember showing up at the arena, outside we were greeted by an escort of boos and you get in the arena and it’s a crescendo now, because it’s enclosed,” said Barrett. “You go into the locker room and they’re banging on the door. ‘Canada, you lose, we’re going to beat you.’ It was definitely not welcoming. They’re throwing things at you. I saw some fruit, I some some other things flying by, I don’t know what they were.
“You feel like you’re under siege. But we were so locked in it didn’t matter. It was another challenge we were going to get through. Nothing was going to shake our focus.”
So far at FIBA Americas 2015, riding the home crowd has been a formula for success for Mexico, led by veteran big Gustavo Ayon, perhaps the best player in the tournament this side of Argentina’s Luis Scola. They set an all-time attendance record for the event on Sunday night when Mexico, surprise winners at the 2013 FIBA Americas, pushed past Puerto Rico to remain undefeated.
Canada will be by far the biggest test Mexico has seen to this point, and with the home crowd, it will be the biggest moment for Canada as well, and it might not be the only time the teams square off. There’s every chance that the two could meet again in the semifinals with an Olympic berth on the line, although any number of permutations and positioning could affect that.
Most of the players have had some experience with hostile crowds – playing on the road against rival schools in college was the example most cited, and they said they liked it.
“It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Nik Stauskas (14 points, 3-of-3 from three-point range) who fondly recalled playing for Michigan at Michigan State as a comparison. “I know everybody’s looking forward to it. Everybody’s going to be amped up. There’s going to be a lot of energy in this building. As basketball players, that’s what we live for.”
Andrew Wiggins excelled playing in charged NBA games for Minnesota against Cleveland last season in his two duels against LeBron James, but he said that was nothing like playing against Kansas State while he was at the University of Kansas.
“The fans were all rowdy, it was a great environment,” said Wiggins, who shook off a slow first half on Monday to score 11 of his 18 points in the third quarter, including three dunks, each more impressive than the last against Uruguay.
Did he like the hostile environment?
“I did,” he said. “The big crowd, the crazy fans, that gets a lot of people going, that gets me going. It gets me motivated.”
But they didn’t have a fence at Kansas State.
In any case it’s the kind of experience that should set this generation of players up well for the rest of the tournament and in the future. They are moments you can prepare for only by going through them.
“Every time in the international game when you play a team in their home country, it’s loud,” said Canadian head coach Jay Triano. “It’s an environment you don’t really see too often in North America. We’re excited for the opportunity. We have an opportunity to grow as a team. I don’t know if the timing could be better for us right now to have another challenge put in front of us. It’s going to be playing not just against the 12 people from Mexico, but playing against the whole country.”
Canada, winners of five straight games by an average of 30 points, would have no excuse for not going into Tuesday night’s tilt brimming with confidence.
They were dominant again against Uruguay, with every element of their lineup shining.
Kelly Olynyk picked up two fouls in the first two minutes of the game and two more in the first two minutes of the second half.
Most teams missing a starter might struggle but Canada thrived. First, Melvin Ejim came off the bench to score nine of his 11 points in the first quarter. Then Andrew Nicholson took over to add 12 points, six rebounds and three assists in the second frame on his way to a line of 15-8-6 in just 17 minutes. The pair helped Canada to a 57-32 lead at half as Canada once again had the game virtually locked up before the third quarter started.
“It just shows how versatile we are,” said Ejim. “How confident we are in each other, how much confidence the coaches give us. It shows that every given night, or every given quarter, somebody can step up and do a great job. If someone gets into foul trouble like today like Kelly, who is a great player, we know that there are guys behind him that are ready to step up and back him up and do a great job.”
It was on the whole perhaps the finest moment yet for Canada’s second unit, which has had its share so far. Canada was leading by eight when Cory Joseph left with just over two minutes left in the first quarter and by the time Joseph checked back in with the starters with just over four minutes remaining before the break, Canada was up 18.
Nicholson’s contribution was particularly welcome. A stalwart for Canada in the 2013 Tournament of the Americas and again at the Pan Am Games this past July, his role shrunk somewhat with the arrival of Olynyk and, to a lesser extent, Dwight Powell.
As an ode to Canada’s depth, starters Olynyk and Joseph scored two and four points respectively and Canada still had eight players with at least nine points, as the bench combined to score 38.
Things will get much more difficult Tuesday night against Mexico as they face one of the best teams in the tournament. One that boasts a sixth man 14,000 strong, unlike anything many of the Canadians have seen before.