Canada Dismantles Lebanon And Latvia Sends France Home

The 2023 FIBA World Cup kicked off on Friday and it has been a joy to watch so far.

On this Sunday, in Group H, Canada easily cruised to a 128-73 win over Lebanon while Latvia dashed France’s dreams of a Gold medal as they defeated Les Bleus and sent them home early on.

Lebanon Helpless Against Canada

Ranked 43 in the FIBA Men’s World Ranking, Lebanon, returned to the World Championship for the first time since 2010 after impressive performances in the Asian Qualifiers.

Following a first loss against the newcomers Latvia, the Cedars failed to perform once again and received a harsh lesson from the Canadian team.

RJ Barrett finished as the leader in points with 17 points and 8 other teammates finished with double figures. Bell-Haynes scored 15 points on 5-for-6 shooting, all 3-point field goals, and added 8 assists.

Melvin Ejim had 13 points, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 12 points and 7 assists without a turnover in 16 minutes. 12 more points were scored by Kelly Olynyk who also had 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and a steal.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was the MVP in the opening match vs. France, finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists as he only played 17 minutes. Kyle Alexander and Dillon Brooks also contributed 10 points each to the team’s total.

On the Lebanese side, the naturalized former NBA player Omari Rasulala Spellman had 16 points. Karim Zeinoun added 15 points and Ali Haidar had 11.

Lebanon’s aspirations of advancing to the Round of 16 are officially over. The task was complicated, and even the most optimistic didn’t anticipate the team progressing beyond the group stage.

However, the primary objective remains unchanged: to fight for a spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics. This will depend not only on Lebanon’s remaining matches but also on the results of the four other Asian nations in the tournament (Iran, China, Jordan, and Japan with the latter defeating Finland today).

France’s Hopes Of Gold Vanished

Sunday’s biggest surprise was France’s elimination after losing to Latvia 88-86 on Sunday night.

The reigning Olympic silver medalists came to the World Cup planning to secure the Golden Medals. Unfortunately for Rudy Gobert’s teammates, they won’t even progress to the second round as they have suffered their second loss after the 30-point defeat to the Canadians on Friday.

Arturs Zagars scored 22 points helping send Latvia and Canada through to the second round and forcing France to fight for no more than the 17th place this year.

Rolands Smits had 20 points and Davis Bertans added 15 points, as Latvia came back from a 13-point deficit.

France dominated the Latvians throughout the match but an unfortunate event in the middle of the fourth quarter turned things upside down.

The 36-year-old French playmaker Nando de Colo received his second unsportsmanlike foul and was thus ejected.

With only 37.7 seconds left on the shot clock, the debutants took the lead for the first time and held on as Bayern Munich’s Sylvain Francisco missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Up Next

With the group’s two second-round tickets secured, Latvia and Canada will face off next on Tuesday in a quest to lead the group.

France will face Lebanon in a redo of a match both nations quite remember.

In 2006, Lebanon achieved a stunning victory by defeating France with a narrow score of 74-73. Rony Fahed’s crucial three-pointer in the fourth quarter surprised not only France but also the entire basketball world.

Results Of Sunday’s Other Matches

Group A

Dominican Republic 87 – 82 Italy

Philippines 70 – 80 Angola

Group D

Montenegro 89 – 74 Egypt

Lituania 96 – 66 Mexico

Group E

Germany 85 – 82 Australia

Japan 98 – 88 Finland