Canada – France
International - FIBA World Cup, Group H, Round 1
The Basketball Expert
Canada was close to being perhaps the biggest favorite for the gold medal at this World Cup. If Jamal Murray was able to play, he and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would form the most powerful backcourt in the tournament. However, the Denver Nuggets superstar withdrew due to injury. This means that all the focus of the opponents defense will be on Gilgeous-Alexander, and the rest of the starting five are not particularly good shooters. Dillon Brooks and Lu Dort are there for great defense, while RJ Barrett prefers the open court and transition. Dwight Powell and Kelly Olynyk are also in the team and will bring extra quality in center position. However, in addition to weak shooting from distance, a big problem is the lack of talent on the bench. The Scrubb brothers, Trae Bell-Haynes, Kenny Chery and Melvin Ejim are not even Euroleague players, and a big difference will be felt when the starters are not on the floor.
France comes to the World Cup as the biggest challenger to the United States. Four years ago, Vincent Collet's team defeated the "Dream Team" in the quarter-finals, but they were eliminated a few days later by Argentina. The core consisting of Rudy Gobert, Nicolas Batum, Evan Fournier and Nando De Colo are playing together for a long time and they are ready to make another exceptional result. The great news is that Mathias Lessort is able to perform and he traveled with "Blues" to Indonesia. Guerschon Yabusele and Elie Okobo have important roles in Real Madrid and Monaco and few will be able to outplay France in this tournament.
Gobert will lock down the paint in this game and will force Canada to shoot a lot from distance. As already mentioned, this is the weak side of that team. The constant pressure on Gilgeous-Alexander will lead to bad decisions by Canada in offense and an experienced team like France will know how to take advantage of that. With this group joining teams from group G in the next phase where reigning champions Spain await, defeat is not an option here. Both teams will approach this game with maximum focus, because if they lose, their chances for a spot in the quarterfinals drop drastically. In such a situation, usually better team wins, and in this case it is France.
Pistol Pete
Everything that the basketball players of France have shown during the preparations, is in favor of the fact that they will be a worthy rival to Team Canada, which has numerous NBA stars, in their first match at the World Cup on Friday.
It can even be said that the European vice-champions France are also slight favorites to win the derby of the first round of the group stage. The match in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, promises spectacular basketball, and both teams have exceptional assets.
Canada was overall disappointing during the preparations, they achieved three victories in five games, and in the last duel they lost to the Dominican Republic 94:88. Better editions are expected from the selection that has such NBA stars as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, one of the most dominant guards in the NBA right now, as well as R. J. Barrett. Players like Brooks, Dort and Olynyk are guaranty of the exceptional quality of the starting five - but options from the bench will be an obvious problem.
It is expected that in this, the first match, the main players in Canada team will be additionally burdened with minutes on court, since this is a direct duel for the first place in the group.
France had won six in a row in the preparations, before losing 78:74 to Australia a few days ago. The reasons for the defeat are, above all, jet lag after a long trip from Europe, and the fact that no risks were taken and the main players were not energetically burdened in that game.
Great news for France is the recovery of the center Lessort. This is the national team that probably has the best line of tall players at the World Cup. In addition to the great NBA star Rudy Gobert, for many the best defender in modern basketball - there is also the young star of Real Madrid Yabusele, and also Lessort.
The quality of the guard positions is guaranteed by the experienced Nando De Colo and the excellent shooter Fournier, and the experience of players like forward Batoum and Moustapha Fall will be extremely important. The impression is that France is of better quality when looking at the complete roster. Also, this is the selection of a team that has a lot of experience playing together over the years behind us, on the tournaments played according to FIBA basketball rules - which is not the case when it comes to Canada.
Both teams are expected to be more efficient than in previous games. In seven games played this summer, France scored less than 80 points just twice – and that was in matches where key players were used less than in standard team rotation. When it comes to Canada, in all five games played this summer, this team scored at least 81 points.
However, the problems in the Canadian team's defense are obvious, and counting on the quality of France's centers, it is to be expected that the opponent will take advantage of that. Overall, an uncertain duel is expected, a fight for victory until the last minute, but also a match with a large number of points for both teams in Jakarta.