Team Canada (ranked 26th) came into the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Final against France (ranked 5th) as heavy underdogs.
It was clear the Canadians were over matched and ultimately would come up short 83-74, but Tristan Thompson and company fought hard all game.
After a high-scoring first quarter, in which France got out to a 30-25 lead, both defenses stepped up and Canada went into halftime trailing 39-36.
It was a back and forth third quarter and Canada would head into the fourth down by five.
It was a game of runs in the fourth quarter, as Tony Parker gave France an eight-point lead with 5:49 to play, and after two scoreless minutes, former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett knocked down a clutch three-pointer to make it 67-62 with 3:46 remaining.
Tyler Ennis cut it down to a three-point game, but Parker came right back down to make it 69-64.
From that point on Parker took over the game. 2016 will in all likelihood be the last Summer that Parker plays for his country and he made sure this one counted and they would qualify for the Olympics.
Parker scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with a game-high 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Keep in mind, these are ten-minute quarters.
France would outlast Canada, winning 83-74 and it got a bit chippy at the end, as Tristan Thompson knocked French guard Nando De Colo to the ground after a bit of a tussle underneath the basket.
Canadian point guard Cory Joseph made sure to deliver a hard foul on De Colo on the next possession after it appeared De Colo got away with a foul on Thompson and Thompson was just called for retaliating.
Parker and Joseph, who were teammates in San Antonio in the NBA, were jawing back and forth late in the game, as France would inevitably close it out.
It was not Thompson’s best game of the four-game tournament, as this was the toughest opponent Canada had to face, but the Cavalier forward put up eight points and seven rebounds in the losing effort.
Joseph, Canada’s leading scorer in the tournament, put up 20 points. Melvin Ejim, who really blossomed in the tournament and proved to be a great source of energy for Team Canada, put up 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Bennett scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds. Ennis put up nine points.
It was the turnovers that really cost Canada, as they turned it over 21 times opposed to France’s 16.
Aside from Parker’s 26 points, De Colo pitched in 22, making for a lethal back court combination.
Boris Diaw scored nine points and Nicolas Batum put up seven.
France showed why they are a force to be reckoned with and will be one of the top teams to watch in the Rio Games in August.
After seeing Canada play so well through these four games, going 3-1 and just coming up short against a great French team, it begs the question how would they have fared if some of their prominent NBA players were available for the tournament.
Canada’s biggest star Andrew Wiggins opted to rest. Kelly Olynyk missed time due to injury and Nick Stauskas declined to play.
With those three players, especially Wiggins, one would have to imagine Canada would have made it a closer contest, if not won and advanced to the Olympics.
But in 2016, Team Canada fought hard and came up just short of their goal. It was through no lack of effort by Thompson, who put up 38 points and 33 rebounds in four games and was a leader on the court.
From a Cavalier perspective, if there’s a positive to take away from Sunday’s loss, it’s that Thompson will get some well-deserved rest after playing in 370 consecutive regular season games (411 including playoffs) and playing in 103 games combined between regular season and Playoffs in 2015-2016.
If anyone deserves some much needed time off, it’s the 25-year-old forward.
As the Olympics are set to begin in August, one storyline to watch for will be how Team France plays in Parker’s final Olympic appearance.
It was clear on Sunday morning he was not going to allow his team to fall short and his teammates stepped their game up as well to make sure the star point guard had his last shot at bringing glory to his homeland.
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