Let’s take a look at how the 12 men’s basketball teams stack up at the Paris 2024 Olympics, power ranking style.
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.
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