TORONTO – Job done.
It wasn’t always pretty but in a rare opportunity to play a significant game in front of a home crowd the men’s national basketball team delivered a 97-61 win over the Dominican Republic as part of the qualifying process for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China.
The margin mattered as much as the win itself. FIBA’s new qualifying format features home-and-home matches and it was a very different Canadian roster that lost by 12 to the Dominicans on their home floor in November. Canada needed to win by 13 to jump to first place in its group.
In that context the winning basket came on a triple by Phil Scrubb with a minute gone in the fourth quarter that put Canada up by 14 points. A three-point play by Dwight Powell followed along with a triple by Melvin Ejim – all part of an 11-0 run that gave the home side some much-needed breathing room down the stretch as the Dominican had cut Canada’s lead to eight late in the third quarter.
In the end the 36-point victory combined with a win on Monday in Ottawa against U.S. Virgin Islands will assure Canada first seed in Group D with the results carrying over into the second round which opens play in September.
You could nitpick and say Canada should have won by more and looked better doing it, but given some of the heartbreak Canadian basketball fans have suffered through, that Canada got through the game with the desired result, no one getting hurt and the building not losing power should be considered an important triumph.
It looked dicey for a moment.
Canada was shooting just over 40 per cent from the floor through the first 30 minutes of the game and only 5-of-20 from three and perhaps most concerning had surrendered 14 offensive rebounds to the much smaller Dominicans (Canada only had seven for itself).
The Canadians dominated the fourth, 26-3, as head coach Jay Triano went to his veterans to solve a pesky Dominican team.
“You saw it. The vets came in and just took care of business,” said teenage phenom R.J. Barrett. “As young guys watching that, you just get to pick up those things and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
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Canada had four players – Ejim, Dillon Brooks and high school teammates Barrett, and Andrew Nembhard tie for the scoring lead with 14 points each while Dwight Powell chipped in 11 as Canada shot 50 per cent from the field and made 10-of-27 threes, including 5-of-7 in the fourth.
Making some shots helped.
“I think we finally hit a three,” said Triano of the game’s turning point. “We had good looks throughout most of the game, and I think it was Phil Scrubb hit one, and that kind of just started everything. We spread the floor, Dwight Powell was excellent screening and rolling and creating space, and he got a couple dunks, they have to respect that.
“We gotta make threes. We finally made one and I think that just gave us a belief that we could do that. Make a couple of those, then they start closing out, we’re able to attack the rim. I think we finally just made a shot, to be honest.”
Canada was clearly the favourite, even if it took it a while to act the part. It is a role it better get used to. In selecting his 12-man roster for the game Triano had the luxury of sitting out two big men with NBA experience in Andrew Nicholson and Chris Boucher. Canada’s most experienced NBA player, Tristan Thompson, was seated courtside and yet the Canadians were still able to roll out four bigs – Kelly Olynyk, Khem Birch, Powell and Anthony Bennett with NBA pedigree.
There aren’t many countries in the world that can have four former NBA first-round picks – Jamal Murray, Andrew Wiggins, Trey Lyles and Thompson – not play and still have a roster deep on NBA-calibre talent.
And not many that can feature two 18-year-olds – Barrett and Nembhard – so prominently in such an important game.
Overall Canada enjoyed a significant size advantage at almost every position among the respective starting lineups. The Dominicans did start 6-foot-11 Eloy Antonio Camacho Vargas, but their next tallest starter was listed at 6-4. Canada had two near seven-footers in Powell and Olynyk, along with Birch off the bench. The only Canadian starter smaller than that was point guard Cory Joseph at 6-2 and it goes without saying Canada was giving up nothing in terms of quickness or athleticism.
But Canada’s size helped during a ragged start as it dominated defensively and finished possession off with rebounds that it sprinted with out into transition. Joseph knocked down a pair of jumpers on the run off Dominican misses and Canada was able to jump out to a quick 16-10 lead.
But it was as Canada’s starters began filtering to the bench that its true advantage was made clear. As NBA players left the floor the likes of Birch – the talented big man from Montreal who was with the Orlando Magic last season – came off the bench to replace them, along with seasoned European pros Ejim and Scrubb. As one teenaged NBA prospect – Barrett – took a rest, he was replaced by another – Nembhard, the Florida-bound point guard who has lifted his 2019 draft stock with his play this summer; first with Canada’s u-18 team and now with the senior squad. Nembhard’s quick burst – a smart lob to Birch, a pull-up jumper and a tough runner helped Canada to a 25-21 lead that would have been greater if Canada had shot better than 2-of-9 from three in the first 10 minutes.
“I think if you were to have watched, I don’t know if you would know they were teenagers the way that they played,” said Triano. “I thought both were very composed. R.J. just attacks the basket like very few people can, and he does it at this level, which is a really high level. Andrew just seems unfazed about anything out there. He guards well, controls the offence, the ball moves when he’s out there, he’s a true point guard. I really don’t think unless you looked at their birth certificate that you would know that they’re teenagers playing the way that they do right now.”
But what could have – perhaps should have – been an easy game against an unheralded opponent was a dogfight. The Dominicans won the third period 19-10, meaning Canada’s chances to win its group was hanging in the balance heading to the fourth.
Fortunately the Canadians remembered who the better team was and showed it, much to the delight of the 5,000 or so fans in the building.
“This felt good, especially coming in front of my family and friends,” said Barrett. “A crazy environment, I loved being a part of it.”
In September, the second round of qualification will split the top three teams from each of the four first-round groups into two new groups of six teams.
From those two groups, the top three in each automatically earn a spot into the FIBA World Cup, and the best fourth-place team between the two groups grabs the last Americas spot.
Getting to the World Cup matters not only because it will be Canada’s first chance to prove the country’s growth on the world stage but because the top seven teams at the World Cup get a spot in the 2020 Olympics, an event Canada hasn’t participated in since 2000 in Sydney.
It got a little closer in Toronto on Friday night.
