Canada opens Olympic campaign with important win over Greece

The Canadian men’s basketball team’s quest for Olympic gold started off on a high note. 

Canada (1-0) picked up an 86-79 win over Greece (0-1), escaping with a tight victory to open group play on Saturday. 

Leading the pack of Canadian Olympic debutants was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who finished with 21 points, five rebounds, seven assists, a steal and two blocks. 

None of his baskets were more important than a layup at the 0:31 mark of the fourth quarter, escaping a double team and putting Canada up four after Greece had all but stolen the momentum with a 10-0 run. 

Helping the Hamilton, Ont., native was RJ Barrett who finished with a team-high 23 points to go with four rebounds and three assists. The duo are just the third pair of Canadian teammates to score more than 20 points in their Olympic debut.

Dillon Brooks also chipped in with 14 points and five rebounds on three-of-four shooting from beyond the arc. 

Meanwhile, it was Greece’s first appearance at an Olympic men’s basketball tournament since 2008, and unsurprisingly it was led by two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. He finished with 34 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field, five rebounds and two assists in his Olympic debut.  

Greece’s only other double-digit scorer was Kostas Papanikolaou who had 17 points, four rebounds three assists and two steals. 

Despite it being the Canadian men's basketball team's first time competing at the Olympics since 2000, there weren't many indications of nerves. Canada withstood multiple scoring outbursts by Greece, including a 13-4 run that saw a once 13-point lead for the Red-and-White cut down to four by the end of the opening frame. 

Canada didn’t buckle, however, relying on its defence to rebuild the lead back to double-digits and make it 48-38 at halftime. They forced nine turnovers out of Greece in the first half, scoring 15 points off those giveaways. 

“I like the start," Team Canada head coach Jordi Fernández said, per Canada Basketball. “We were very physical, our ball pressure was really good, we were running and moving and obviously, great teams with a lot of experience like [Greece], they're going to punch back, and they did.”

Foul trouble did stymy Canada’s early momentum – Luguentz Dort, Dwight Powell and Dillon Brooks all exited after picking up five calls – but the lead never fully evaporated.  

Canada didn’t trail at any point in the ball game, always finding a response no matter how slim the lead got. When they were up by just four with as little as five minutes remaining, back-to-back triples by Dort and Gilgeous-Alexander sparked an 8-0 run that brought the margin back up to double digits, ultimately allowing Canada to hold on. 

Barrett capped off the victory with a breakaway dunk at the buzzer, and in some cases that could be considered unsportsmanlike, but in Olympic play it's fair game as point differential determines which third-place teams advance to the knockout stage and also how the top eight teams get seeded.

So a seven-point win, versus a five-point win, might make all the difference come the conclusion of group play. As things stand, Canada is second in Group A behind Australia who picked up a 12-point victory over Spain on Saturday.

One of Canada’s biggest concerns entering the day was how they’d handle the size and physicality of Antetokounmpo, and once the dust settled, it was safe to call the matchup a draw in that regard.

Although the eight-time all-star led the game in scoring, he routinely saw a wall of Canadian defenders and was forced to pass out of paint touches more than he typically does. Antetokounmpo picked up 12 of his 34 points at the free-throw line, helping Greece draw 27 fouls from Canada.

“Guarding Giannis is not an easy task,” Barrett said, per Canada Basketball. “Dillon, Lu, Dwight tried their best, put pressure on them all game long. That's not an easy task. I mean, like I said, it's a team. It's all of us, and we did our job today.”

This was just the fourth matchup between Canada and Greece’s men’s basketball programs all-time, and the first since 2021. With the win, Canada evened things up at two wins apiece. 

UP NEXT

Group A action will resume on Tuesday with an early matchup between Greece and Spain (0-1) at 5:00 a.m. ET. 

Canada will then take on Australia (1-0) at 7:30 a.m. ET. 

Here are all the key moments in Canada's opening win over Greece at Paris 2024.

-- With files from Sportsnet Staff

Fourth Quarter

• 0:00 — End of the fourth quarter: Canada 86, Greece 79

• 0:02 — Canada puts the icing on the cake. Lyles grabs a board and finds Barrett on the break who punches it home with a dagger slam. Things get a bit chippy after the final whistle, but thankfully nothing comes to blows.

• 0:42 — Gilgeous-Alexander isn't having it. Breaks down two defenders with gorgeous hesitations and crossovers and gets the tough lay-up to fall and get it back to a two-possession game.

• 1:04 — Lyles gets his pocket picked after some hounding full-court defence and it leads to an easy but authoritative slam from Antetokounmpo. Two-point game now.

• 1:15 — 8-0 run for Greece cuts Canada's lead to four with just over a minute left. A turnover from Murray on a bad pass leaks Greece out on the fast break and ends with a floater from Vasilis Toliopoulos. 80-76 Canada.

• 3:06 — And that's another disqualification. Dillon Brooks is now out after getting tangled in a double-team against Antetokounmpo. The game is turning into a war of attrition here in the late stage.

• 3:24 — Greece's Nick Calathes is also out now as the point guard picks up his fifth foul after reaching in on Gilgeous-Alexander.

• 3:45 — Powell is out. Picks up his fifth foul while crashing the offensive glass. Trey Lyles takes his spot at the five.

• 4:56 — Dort ends a four-minute, 16-second scoring drought with a big 3-pointer to make sure Canada can hold onto its slowly evaporating lead. Gilgeous-Alexander then follows it up on the next offensive possession with a nasty step-back trey to get the lead back to 10. Resilient! 78-68 Canada.

• 7:27 — Dwight Powell joins the growing list of Canadians in serious foul trouble. Picks up his fourth of the game with a shooting foul on Antetokounmpo. Gilgeous-Alexander picks up a debatable offensive foul on the other end and puts Greece in the bonus with a ton of time left.

• 8:05 — Thomas Walkup knocks down a big 3-pointer, his first make of the game to end a 0-for-6 drought and cuts Canada's lead to only six points. 72-66 Canada.

• 8:32 — Giannis is back on the floor here for Greece. With it being a single-digit game, changes are the superstar doesn't come back out. Time for Canada to find a way to slow him down.

Third Quarter

• 0:00 — End of the third quarter: Canada 68, Greece 60

• 0:15 — Murray had a nice impact on both ends at the end of the quarter. Sinks a tough floater with hands in his face on one end then stands his ground in the post against Mitoglou on the other, forcing a shot-clock violation.

• 2:23 — Andrew Nembhard saves a bad possession – somehow sinks a tough pull-up jumper with a couple of defenders in his face as the shot clock rings. Gets Canada back to a double-digit lead late in the third.

• 3:48 — That's two turnovers in a row for Canada as Alexander-Walker steps out of bounds in the corner. Greece took advantage of them on the last possession, picking Murray's pocket and finishing with a slam in transition on the other end. 60-53 Canada.

• 4:18 — Fouls starting to become a real problem for Canada here as Brooks joins Dort on the bench with his fourth foul. As a reminder, FIBA rules disqualify a player after only five fouls instead of six.

• 4:51 — Nickeil Alexander-Walker just can't seem to find his stroke from beyond the arc. Misses his second-straight transition pull-up 3-point attempt. He's now 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-4 from deep.

• 7:20 — Giannis goes in strong in a way that only he can do, bulldozing Barrett to get to the basket and finish the dunk with authority. 56-44 Canada.

• 7:47 — Well never mind. Dort takes his seat back on the bench as he draws his fourth foul of the game, a shooting foul on Dinos Mitoglou.

• 9:44 — Here we go! Dort is nothing if not resilient. Foul trouble won't stop the hounding 3-and-D wing as he opens the scoring for the second half with a nice 3-pointer.

HALF TIME

Second Quarter

• 0:00 — End of the second quarter: Canada 48, Greece 38

• 0:33 — Barrett has arguably been the best player on the court as we near the end of the first half. Scores a tough pull-up jumper for his fifth make of the game on seven attempts. His 13 points are leading the way for Canada here so far. 47-38 Canada.

• 1:06 — Lu Dort getting into some foul trouble here. His third of the game after blocking Walkup as he was getting past the half-court line on offence. Not great for one of Canada's best perimeter defenders.

• 2:09 — Greece coach Vasilis Spanoulis gets a technical foul from the bench for protesting a possibly missed foul on Antetokounmpo. Canada will take the free point. 42-36 Canada.

• 4:49 — Giannis Antetokounmpo is still Giannis Antetkounmpo. The two-time NBA MVP is willing his country into it as he uses a clean eurostep to finish a lay-up in the lane. He's up to 12 points on 4-for-6 from the field. Dominance.

• 5:45 — SGA checks back in (thankfully) and instantly helps end his team's drought from the field, finding Brooks on the perimeter for a much-needed 3-pointer to rebuild Canada's 10-point lead. 35-25 Canada.

• 7:19 — Antetokounmpo checks back in but does exactly what Canada wants him to do – takes an inadvisable look from beyond the arc and airballs it badly.

• 8:22 — Murray knocks down his first field goal of the game and hits a sweet baseline jumper to keep Canada just far enough ahead of Greece. 30-25 Canada.

• 9:18 — Greece is on fire from long-range as Giannoulis Larentzakis knocks down the team's fifth 3-pointer in 10 attempts.

First Quarter

• 0:00 — End of first quarter: Canada 26, Greece 22

• 0:17 — The lead is starting to dwindle here for Canada as Papanikolau cuts the deficit to only two points after another corner 3-pointer. Canadian offence also hasn't scored since the 3:09 mark, letting Greece back into it. 24-22 Canada.

• 2:26 — Antetokounmpo responds in a big way, hammering in a nasty alley-oop on the other end.

• 3:09 — Barrett goes in strong. Gets into the lane with a full head of steam and drives home the vicious two-handed jam. 24-12 Canada.

• 3:46 — Jamal Murray finally checks in. Can he prove doubters wrong after recent struggles and absences in the tune-up games?

• 4:54 — It's takeover time for Canada as the defence stifles Greece's ball-handlers once again and SGA makes them pay, draining a nasty step-back 3-pointer over Thomas Walkup.

• 6:22 — Gilgeous-Alexander proves why he's possibly the best player at the Olympics, breaks down his defender with some fancy footwork and hesitations then drains the fall-away mid-range jumper and draws the foul. And one! 11-5 Canada.

• 7:08 — Greece is on the board. Giannis Antetokounmpo and his otherworldly gravity draw the double-team and he finds Kostas Papanikolaou in the corner for the three-ball.

• 8:10 — Canada is finding its spots early on. That's two straight buckets from mid-range jumpers at the free-throw line, one from Dillon Brooks and one from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Great start, 6-0 Canada.

• 9:29 — RJ Barrett has a full circle moment, scores the first basket of the game and Canada's first Olympic basket since his father was part of the 2000 Canadian team.

• 10:00 — And we're off! Dwight Powell gets up and wins the opening tip for Canada.