Canada’s magic number for Olympics at one
A win over Venezuela in tournament semifinal will clinch trip to Rio
MEXICO CITY— There is no hiding from the historical significance of the most important basketball Canadian men have played in a decade and a half.
Not since a July night in Puerto Rico in 1999 has such an opportunity been presented to the team:
One game. One win. One trip to the Olympics.
And the players have been made fully aware of what’s at stake for the entire month they have been together.
“It was the first thing we talked about when we started training camp,” said head coach Jay Triano, a day before Canada plays Venezuela in the FIBA Americas championship semifinal with a berth at the Rio Olympics on the line.
“They’ve been reminded of it on a daily basis.”
Canada has not been at the Olympics since 2000, a year after Triano coached the likes of Steve Nash and Rowan Barrett to a win over Puerto Rico in San Juan.
The juicy and symmetric situation would have pitted Canada against Mexico in Mexico City for another Olympic spot, but the hosts blew that out of the water by beating Argentina on Wednesday.
Still, Friday’s game will have some historical importance.
“Obviously there have been Olym- pic Games and there have been other times when this program has played to get into the Olympic Games, so I think it’s in a handful of those that can help identify a program,” Triano said.
For point guard Cory Joseph, the chance to become an Olympian is the chance to fulfill a lifetime dream.
“When I was real young. I used to watch basketball, used to watch the Dream Team, I used to watch all the Olympic Games and just talk to my family, talk to my brother, just picture myself being there,” Joseph said.
The Venezuelans will have something to say about letting Joseph and his teammates paint that the Olympic dream.
Canada beat Venezuela 82-62 in the opening round of the tournament but it was one of Canada’s toughest games. They got off to a blistering start that put the game away early and it turned rough at times with Venezuela picking up three “unsportsmanlike” fouls, FIBA’s equivalent of an NBA flagrant foul.
It is undoubtedly going to be rough and tougher Friday night with so much at stake.
“They’re a physical team, they’re a veteran team, the average age is probably in the 30s,” Triano said. “They’ve been around for a long time, they know the international game, they’re super competitive, they’re thicker than we are.
“They probably want to turn this into a wrestling match, we’ve got to make sure we move the ball and play with pace.”
Canada has steamrolled the opposition since losing its first game against Argentina more than a week and a half ago, winning seven straight games by an average margin of victory of more than 25 points.
They have never really been challenged and it’ll be interesting to see how they will handle a game that’s close down the stretch.
“You prepare it by doing it in those situations and we haven’t had the opportunity, but every time we have a practice we go through end-ofgame plays, what we’re looking for in certain situations and what we’re going to run,” Triano said.
“If we have a timeout we’ll set something up, if we don’t have a timeout, we’ll know what our plan is.”
They also know what the plan will be if they win. “Don’t want to smile yet actually because we’re not there but if we do get there I’ll definitely be smiling,” Joseph said.