Tough lessons moving forward
‘Australian rules’ tuneups give Canada taste of what to expect in opener
Canada now has a relative wealth of information to use in the final two weeks leading up to basketball’s World Cup. Mostly about itself. A two-game series with Australia ended Saturday morning with an 81-73 loss to the Boomers in Perth, but it did provide coach Nick Nurse and the players with plenty of information to digest before the same teams meet Sept.1in China in a crucial World Cup opener. “Defence wins championships and for us, we have to play aggressive, match the physicality of other teams and continue to do that on the defensive end because that creates easy baskets,” Canadian guard Kevin Pangos, rested for Saturday’s contest, said in a pre-game interview.
That was probably the brightest part of Canada’s performance before a crowd of about 10,000. The game was far more physical than Friday’s 90-70 Canada win and there wasn’t a backward step taken.
The Aussies, who rested key veterans Patty Mills and Andrew Bogut, were far more aggressive defensively in their second game out, which is sure to be a trait they’ll carry over to the World Cup.
“It was a little like Australian rules football, I thought, at times,” Canada’s associate head coach Gordie Herbert said at a post-game news conference. “Very physical, the referees let it go both ways to a certain extent. You have to be able to adjust to the refereeing as the game goes on.”
Adjustment is going to be one of the big watchwords for Canada in the next two weeks that include two games against New Zealand and one against the United States before the World Cup opener.
Nurse, his staff and the players become more familiar with each other with each passing game, but there is still much to be figured out.
The team’s defensive transition disappeared for most of the third quarter, when Australia racked up 30 points, and the shotmaking wasn’t nearly as good on Saturday as it was on Friday.
Finding a suitable eight- or nine-man rotation, drilling home subtle defensive changes and making sure the right shooters are in the right spots on offence have to be taken care of quickly.
Canada played hard in both games against the Boomers and that will make up for the lack of superstar talent, but the level of cohesion has many more notches it can grow by.
“I thought we showed promise. We showed we have the ability to compete no matter who we put on the floor,” Canada’s Melvin Ejim said. “I think we’re playing well. I think we’re going to keep focusing on us, things we can do better, and take it game by game and try not to get ahead of ourselves.”
In addition to resting Pangos, Canada was missing Brady Heslip and Cory Joseph for the second straight game. Heslip is scheduled to join the team for its final three games, while team officials still expect Joseph to make his way to Australia. They will provide a boost to the offence — each is a proven shooter — and Joseph’s ballhandling skills will be vital against backcourt pressure. “From game to game, throughout the summer … I’ve thought we’ve really improved every game defensively,” Herbert said.
“I just thought we had a bit of a dry spell (Saturday) when (with) our defensive transition, we didn’t match up. I think we were up by eight or nine and they hit a couple of threes, but otherwise I thought our defence was really good, really solid.”
Khem Birch had18 for Canada and Oshae Brissett added 14. Canada gave up a 30-point third quarter and 51 in the second half, which was their undoing. They got within three points with about 21⁄ minutes left before the Boomers sealed the game with a 9-0 run.
“I think each game, each practice we’re taking steps to getting better, so we’re definitely moving in the right direction,” Ejim said.
“A big thing that we focus on is communication, from coaching staff to players on the court. When (Nurse) is the leader at the helm and … communicating and being loud and expressive, it’s contagious and everyone’s starting to do it. That just feeds our mentality as a team.”