Olympic basketball hopes take a big hit

Canadian squad down to last chance after beatdown by bigger Lithuanians

It wasn’t “back-to-school day” in China like it was back home in Canada, but Nick Nurse’s entry at the FIBA World Cup did learn a few lessons courtesy of a welldrilled Lithuanian team.

First and foremost, the next time they come to one of these things, they might want to bring a little more size.

Not that the Canadians had a lot of choice when it came to the roster.

Before Canada even got to training camp, NBA bigs Tristan Thompson and Dwight Powell bowed out.

Then fringe NBAER Chris Boucher cancelled out a few days into camp. Kelly Olynyk, one of the few remaining bigs with any NBA experience, was lost thanks to a slippery floor during a tune-up game before they left home.

What could have been a strength for Canada is its most glaring weakness.

Lack of size hampered Canada in a Game 1 loss to Australia, and it hurt them again in a second loss, 92-69 to Lithuania, a defeat that ended any chance Canada had of advancing in this World Cup.

Now there’s a game against Senegal to close out their unhappy Group H experience, and then it’s on to the classification round as Canada attempts to nail down an expected berth in next summer’s last-chance tournament. One would hope some of the more experienced bigs in the country can answer the call then.

Cory Joseph, a fixture in the Canadian lineup throughout his basketball career, was the picture of frustration following the Lithuania beatdown.

“It’s tough,” Joseph said, barely containing his emotions as he spoke. “By no means did I have my best game, and for sure, I missed a lot of easy ones that I feel like I usually make.”

Joseph finished with 15 points, but had four of Canada’s seven turnovers in the first quarter alone.

Against Lithuania, it was Melvin Ejim and Khem Birch, two of Canada’s bigger and more physical players, who were handcuffed by the early foul trouble, which only magnified Canada’s size deficiency in the game.

Ejim eventually fouled out of the game with seven minutes to go, having played just over 17 minutes.

Birch spent most of the second half playing with four fouls, which limited him immensely on the defensive end.

Without those two biggish bodies to rely on, and with sixfoot-10 centre Owen Klassen playing a little more than nine minutes, Nurse had no choice but to go small most of the way.

Eventually, Lithuania’s size advantage won the day. Even when Canada was able to get stops on defence — sometimes as many as two or three in a row — it was only a case of delaying their opponent’s success because the bigger Lithuanians would rebound their own misses time and again and keep doing that until they did score.

Kyle Wiltjer had a game-high 24 points for Canada.

Lithuania was led by Jonas Valanciunas, the former member of the Toronto Raptors, with 13 points.

Canada and Senegal will be joined by Jordan and Germany, who on Tuesday were upset by the Dominican Republic, forcing them into that classification group.