The North American team struggled, but was able to defeat Spain with a score of 88-85 in the last match of Group L of the second stage of the event. The result allows those led by Jordi Fernandez, in addition to continuing the fight for the title, to return to the basketball tournament at the Olympic Games, an event they have not attended since Sydney in 2000. On the other hand, Latvia, the architect of the direct elimination match between Spain and Canada, defeated Brazil and continues to publish teat.
First Amendment:
3 minutes
When Spain lost to Latvia and Canada lost to Brazil on September 1, basketball fans showed mixed feelings. On the one hand, they regretted that one of the two best teams up to this point in the tournament (Spain or Canada) would have to say goodbye, and on the other hand, they were happy that the match on September 3 would not be a formality and that it would be full of excitement from the beginning and the end.
The first quarter of the match proved that. Both teams started giving and taking from the first minute with each quintet reacting to their opponent’s score. At the end of the first ten minutes, the scoreboard showed parity at 21 points with Rowan Alexander (RJ Barrett Jr.) leading the Canadians with 11 points, while Spain’s Willy Hernangomez finished with eight points.
Spain was able to take advantage of the opportunity and win the first half with a score of 48 – 38. During that period, the team led by Sergio Scariolo strengthened its defense, taking advantage of the weakness of the Canadian attack. Once again, Willy Hernangomez led the way for Spain with 10 goals in the quarter.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Canadian comeback and cruised into the quarterfinals
Canada started the third quarter in full force, building a partial 8-4 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Spain was able to respond, after losing the lead 52-53 for the first time in the match, leading 21-5 to move away by 12 points before the start of the final quarter.
But the end of the match was not ideal for Spain. As was the case in the third quarter, Canada started scoring and quickly pulled within five points thanks to a Dillon Brooks hat-trick and two points scored by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from the free throw line after a foul taken from 6.75 metres.
In the face of the Canadian response, Spain found no offensive alternative and took just under four minutes to score their first field goal through Santiago Aldama.
During the final five minutes, the pressure of what was at stake in the game began to be felt on both five-piece. Neither of them was able to impose their dominance in the opponent’s area, but amid the lack of accuracy, Canada got the best result thanks to the successes of Dillon Brooks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the final minutes.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 30 points and seven assists, leading Canada to the quarterfinals for the first time this century where they will face Luka Doncic’s Slovenia. For Spain, who should be gunning for a ticket to Paris for next year’s qualifiers, Willy Hernangomez finished with 25 points, while Santiago Aldama finished with 20 points.
Other results to conclude the second phase
The first group: Italy* 73 – 57 Puerto Rico
Dominican Republic 79 – 112 Serbia*
Group J: Greece 69 – 73 Montenegro
United States of America* 104 – 110 Lithuania*
Group K: Australia 100 – 84 Georgia
Germany* 100 – 71 Slovenia*
Group L: Brazil 84 – 104 Latvia*
Source: FIBA / *Qualified to the quarter-finals
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