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They made it to Athens, but fell well short of making it to Beijing.
The Canadian men's basketball team's bid to qualify for just its second Olympic tournament in 20 years and first since 2000 fell short as they were out-classed 83-62 by Croatia in the quarter-finals in Greece this morning.
It was a must-win game but the best Canada could do was work a 20-20 tie at the midway point of the second quarter against the favoured European team in the FIBA Olympic qualifier. From that point on Croatia steadily extended the lead and Canada was never within 10 points after the opening minute of the second half.
Canada only made it to the quarter-finals thanks to an unlikely comeback against Korea on Wednesday morning, as they used a 14-0 run to climb out of a 12-point hole in the final three minutes of the opening-round game.
Jermaine Anderson of Canada, left, passes the ball as Stanko Barac of Croatia defends during a quarter-final basketball game for FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament at the indoor Olympic arena in Athens on Friday. (Thanassis Stavrakis/AP)
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There was no drama this time. Croatia simply suffocated the Canadians defensively and made enough of the open three-point looks Canada gave them that the game was never truly in doubt as they found themselves down by 20 points heading into the fourth quarter and finished the tournament with a 1-2 mark.
The loss ends an Olympic qualifying effort that started with some promise given Leo Rautins's team started the journey by finishing a dismal 10th at the tournament of the Americas in 2005, his first taste of head coaching at any level after taking over from Jay Triano. Two years later Canada finished fifth in the same tournament, failing to qualify for the Olympics but snagging a spot in the 12-team last-chance qualifier in Athens where there were three spots available.
Rautins had high hopes for his team heading into the summer but it wasn't a smooth one. On the first day of training camp Rautins was left to explain why national team veteran Denham Brown wasn't in camp -- he couldn't, Rautins said, because Brown never bothered to call, prefering to simply never show up.
After three weeks of training Rautins cut Juan Mendez of Montreal the day before they left for Europe. Another big man, Jesse Young, was kept on the roster but ended up being unavailable due to an injury suffered in training camp. Most controversially Rautins had a confrontation with Philadelphia 76ers centre Samuel Dalembert in the hours before a do-or-die match against Korea that they won in a stunning second-half comeback that made up for brutal first half and a flat showing against Slovenia in the opener.
Dalembert was released from the squad, shrouding the team in controversy.
There were hopes -- dreams really -- that Steve Nash would join his friend Rowan Barrett and make a national team comeback. He would have been a huge addition to a young Canadian team that had athleticism, depth and some size -- if you count Dalembert, Mendez and Young -- but lacked a single play-maker to lift the group
Canada lost its grip in the first half of the second quarter, a period that coincided with the appearance in the game of newly signed Toronto Raptor point-guard Roko Ukic as he used some penetration to draw the defence before sending the ball out where it would get rotated around the perimeter. A play just like that resulted in a Croation triple that gave them a 27-20 lead with just over five minutes to play in the half to cap a 7-0 run. Barrett -- Canada's best player this summer at 35 years old -- hit a shot to breifly stop the run but Croatia was finding its game as they were able to continue getting open three-pointers. Ukic hit one of his own to give Croatia a 36-26 lead, their largest of the half with just two minutes left
Canada continued to grind and give itself chances as they hustled for eight offensive rebound in the first half, picking up a theme that started in the second-half of the Korea game. But the Canadians couldn't convert the extra chances as they finished the half shooting just four-of-18 from inside the three-point line. Their efforts did get them to the free-throw line and they hit three shots at the stripe late in the half to cut into Croatia's lead and make up for four missed lay-ups over the same stretch as Canada went into the half trailing 36-29.
Canada was led in scoring by Olu Famutimi of Toronto with 14 points, while Miami Heat forward Joel Anthony of Montreal contributed 11 rebounds. Croatia was led by Marko Popovic with 17 points. Canada shot just 17-of-59 from the floor, compared to 30-of-57 by Croatia. Canada did manage 20 offensive rebounds, compared to 10 by Croatia, but they had many more to get.
