And breathe…
Canada started its first men’s basketball Olympic campaign in 24 years with a big and important win, taking down Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece 86-79 on Saturday.
Though Canada never trailed, the game was too close for comfort on way too many occasions, alternating between double-digit leads and two-possession leads over and over.
But one thing was always for certain – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Canadian superstar went toe-to-toe with Antetokounmpo, finishing with 21 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
Here are all the key moments in Canada’s opening win over Greece at Paris 2024.
FINAL SCORE: Canada 86, Greece 79
Fourth Quarter
• 0:00 — End of the fourth quarter: Canada 86, Greece 79
• 0:02 — Canada puts the icing on the cake. Lyles grabs a board and finds Barrett on the break who punches it home with a dagger slam. Things get a bit chippy after the final whistle, but thankfully nothing comes to blows.
• 0:42 — Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t having it. Breaks down two defenders with gorgeous hesitations and crossovers and gets the tough lay-up to fall and get it back to a two-possession game.
• 1:04 — Lyles gets his pocket picked after some hounding full-court defence and it leads to an easy but authoritative slam from Antetokounmpo. Two-point game now.
• 1:15 — 8-0 run for Greece cuts Canada’s lead to four with just over a minute left. A turnover from Murray on a bad pass leaks Greece out on the fast break and ends with a floater from Vasilis Toliopoulos. 80-76 Canada.
• 3:06 — And that’s another disqualification. Dillon Brooks is now out after getting tangled in a double-team against Antetokounmpo. The game is turning into a war of attrition here in the late stage.
• 3:24 — Greece’s Nick Calathes is also out now as the point guard picks up his fifth foul after reaching in on Gilgeous-Alexander.
• 3:45 — Powell is out. Picks up his fifth foul while crashing the offensive glass. Trey Lyles takes his spot at the five.
• 4:56 — Dort ends a four-minute, 16-second scoring drought with a big 3-pointer to make sure Canada can hold onto its slowly evaporating lead. Gilgeous-Alexander then follows it up on the next offensive possession with a nasty step-back trey to get the lead back to 10. Resilient! 78-68 Canada.
• 7:27 — Dwight Powell joins the growing list of Canadians in serious foul trouble. Picks up his fourth of the game with a shooting foul on Antetokounmpo. Gilgeous-Alexander picks up a debatable offensive foul on the other end and puts Greece in the bonus with a ton of time left.
• 8:05 — Thomas Walkup knocks down a big 3-pointer, his first make of the game to end a 0-for-6 drought and cuts Canada’s lead to only six points. 72-66 Canada.
• 8:32 — Giannis is back on the floor here for Greece. With it being a single-digit game, changes are the superstar doesn’t come back out. Time for Canada to find a way to slow him down.
Third Quarter
• 0:00 — End of the third quarter: Canada 68, Greece 60
• 0:15 — Murray had a nice impact on both ends at the end of the quarter. Sinks a tough floater with hands in his face on one end then stands his ground in the post against Mitoglou on the other, forcing a shot-clock violation.
• 2:23 — Andrew Nembhard saves a bad possession – somehow sinks a tough pull-up jumper with a couple of defenders in his face as the shot clock rings. Gets Canada back to a double-digit lead late in the third.
• 3:48 — That’s two turnovers in a row for Canada as Alexander-Walker steps out of bounds in the corner. Greece took advantage of them on the last possession, picking Murray’s pocket and finishing with a slam in transition on the other end. 60-53 Canada.
• 4:18 — Fouls starting to become a real problem for Canada here as Brooks joins Dort on the bench with his fourth foul. As a reminder, FIBA rules disqualify a player after only five fouls instead of six.
• 4:51 — Nickeil Alexander-Walker just can’t seem to find his stroke from beyond the arc. Misses his second-straight transition pull-up 3-point attempt. He’s now 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-4 from deep.
• 7:20 — Giannis goes in strong in a way that only he can do, bulldozing Barrett to get to the basket and finish the dunk with authority. 56-44 Canada.
• 7:47 — Well never mind. Dort takes his seat back on the bench as he draws his fourth foul of the game, a shooting foul on Dinos Mitoglou.
• 9:44 — Here we go! Dort is nothing if not resilient. Foul trouble won’t stop the hounding 3-and-D wing as he opens the scoring for the second half with a nice 3-pointer.
HALF TIME
Second Quarter
• 0:00 — End of the second quarter: Canada 48, Greece 38
• 0:33 — Barrett has arguably been the best player on the court as we near the end of the first half. Scores a tough pull-up jumper for his fifth make of the game on seven attempts. His 13 points are leading the way for Canada here so far. 47-38 Canada.
• 1:06 — Lu Dort getting into some foul trouble here. His third of the game after blocking Walkup as he was getting past the half-court line on offence. Not great for one of Canada’s best perimeter defenders.
• 2:09 — Greece coach Vasilis Spanoulis gets a technical foul from the bench for protesting a possibly missed foul on Antetokounmpo. Canada will take the free point. 42-36 Canada.
• 4:49 — Giannis Antetokounmpo is still Giannis Antetkounmpo. The two-time NBA MVP is willing his country into it as he uses a clean eurostep to finish a lay-up in the lane. He’s up to 12 points on 4-for-6 from the field. Dominance.
• 5:45 — SGA checks back in (thankfully) and instantly helps end his team’s drought from the field, finding Brooks on the perimeter for a much-needed 3-pointer to rebuild Canada’s 10-point lead. 35-25 Canada.
• 7:19 — Antetokounmpo checks back in but does exactly what Canada wants him to do – takes an inadvisable look from beyond the arc and airballs it badly.
• 8:22 — Murray knocks down his first field goal of the game and hits a sweet baseline jumper to keep Canada just far enough ahead of Greece. 30-25 Canada.
• 9:18 — Greece is on fire from long-range as Giannoulis Larentzakis knocks down the team’s fifth 3-pointer in 10 attempts.
First Quarter
• 0:00 — End of first quarter: Canada 26, Greece 22
• 0:17 — The lead is starting to dwindle here for Canada as Papanikolau cuts the deficit to only two points after another corner 3-pointer. Canadian offence also hasn’t scored since the 3:09 mark, letting Greece back into it. 24-22 Canada.
• 2:26 — Antetokounmpo responds in a big way, hammering in a nasty alley-oop on the other end.
• 3:09 — Barrett goes in strong. Gets into the lane with a full head of steam and drives home the vicious two-handed jam. 24-12 Canada.
• 3:46 — Jamal Murray finally checks in. Can he prove doubters wrong after recent struggles and absences in the tune-up games?
• 4:54 — It’s takeover time for Canada as the defence stifles Greece’s ball-handlers once again and SGA makes them pay, draining a nasty step-back 3-pointer over Thomas Walkup.
• 6:22 — Gilgeous-Alexander proves why he’s possibly the best player at the Olympics, breaks down his defender with some fancy footwork and hesitations then drains the fall-away mid-range jumper and draws the foul. And one! 11-5 Canada.
• 7:08 — Greece is on the board. Giannis Antetokounmpo and his otherworldly gravity draw the double-team and he finds Kostas Papanikolaou in the corner for the three-ball.
• 8:10 — Canada is finding its spots early on. That’s two straight buckets from mid-range jumpers at the free-throw line, one from Dillon Brooks and one from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Great start, 6-0 Canada.
• 9:29 — RJ Barrett has a full circle moment, scores the first basket of the game and Canada’s first Olympic basket since his father was part of the 2000 Canadian team.
• 10:00 — And we’re off! Dwight Powell gets up and wins the opening tip for Canada.
