Mental Mistakes Doom Canada
Canada’s Senior Men opened the FIBA Olympic Qualifier with a humbling loss, succumbing 86-70 to Slovenia.
The Achilles heel for Canada was their inability to stay out of foul trouble. Staring point guard Jermaine Anderson picked up his second foul at the 3:53 mark of the first quarter while back-up Andy Rautins picked up two fouls in his first three minutes of playing time off the bench
Having both point guards in foul trouble put a huge strain on Canada’s backcourt on both ends of the floor.
On the defensive end, foul trouble by Canada’s point guards allowed Slovenia’s backcourt tandem of Jaka Lakovic and Sani Becirovic to score 19 and 15 points respectively.
Lakovic ignited Slovenia’s offense in the first half as he scored 12 of Slovenia’s first 16 points of the game.
Meanwhile on the offensive end, Canada struggled to get open looks and as a result shot 40% (24-60) from the field. Without their lead guards in the game, Canada reverted to a lot of one-on-one style of play where they hoisted up perimeter shots or tried to attack their defenders off the dribble for shots in the paint. When neither option worked, Canada was left without an attacking guard to dish to open teammates when Slovenia’s defense collapsed on the ball handler.
Foul trouble was only a symptom of a much larger problem - an inability to stay focused mentally or show the physical toughness needed to secure a much needed win. Slovenia seemed to want this win more as they hit the floor for loose balls while Canada was happy to just bend over, they won the battle on the glass (30-27), they were more aggressive in the post and they slid over to play better help defense on the perimeter.
Canada’s struggles staying in the game mentally were shown when they committed the cardinal sin of fouling a three-point shooter not just once, but twice in this game. If this had happened once it would have resulted in head coach Leo Rautins pulling out his hair but the fact it happened twice is frustrating for the coaching staff and fans across the country to watch.
Two bright spots for Canada were Rowan Barrett who paced Canada with 16 points in the loss, while fellow veteran Dave Thomas scored 10 points off the bench while shooting 71.4% (5-7) from the field.
Canada’s game against Korea tomorrow morning is now a must-win game for both countries. Which ever team earns the win gets to advance to the quarter-final round of the qualifying tournament, while a loss ends that country’s quest for an Olympic berth.
This article was written by:
Ryan McNeill - who has written 207 posts on Hoops Addict.
Ryan McNeill is the editor for Hoops Addict and has appeared on NBA XL and WSRQ 1220. Ryan has covered the NBA with media credentials since the 2007 season.