Reaching the top-2 strongest teams in North America, Canadian basketball team returns to the Olympics after 23 years of waiting

Despite producing many players who compete in the NBA, Canadian basketball has not achieved success in the international arena.

Back in 2000, the owner of two MVP titles Steve Nash then led the Canadian team to the quarterfinals of the Summer Olympics, only to stop ahead of the French team (later won the silver medal) with a narrow score. 68-63.

Since then, the Canadian team has continuously failed in continental tournaments or Olympic qualifiers. It's been 23 years since they were able to return to the Summer Olympics... until today.

Led by All-NBA 1st Team star Shail Gilgeous-Alexander, the Canadian team shone in the group stage of the FIBA ​​World Cup 2023 with 3 wins (total difference of up to 111 points).

The Olympic spot could be locked early in the second round if Canada can overcome Brazil. But this is a match they played weakly and lost, bringing a completely opposite image compared to the group stage.

By the final match in round 2, everything seemed to be coming to an end when Shai and his teammates were led by 12 points by the defending World Cup champions, Spain.

But then the two brightest stars of the land of maple leaves spoke up to revive the team's spirit.

Dillon Brooks led the defense that suddenly became extremely uncomfortable for Canada, holding Spain down to just 12 points for the entire fourth half.

Dillon personally also shines in attack with many important throws. Accompanying him was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander when this 1998-born defender alone scored more points than the entire Spanish team in the fourth quarter (13 compared to 12).

Even more impressive is that in the series of points above, Shai scored 11 points in just 1 minute 51 seconds to bring Canada to the final victory of 88-85, closing the ticket to the Paris Olympics after more than 20 years of waiting.

This result helps the two neighboring countries, the US and Canada, join hands to the 2024 Olympic Games, the owners of two official slots for the top two teams of the Americas at the 2023 FIBA ​​World Cup.

Of course, the journey of both teams has not stopped as they have a series of World Cup quarter-final matches ahead of them, meeting two representatives from Europe. The US will face the Italian team and Canada will face Luka Doncic and the Slovenian team.