The Canadian national basketball team got their Paris 2024 Olympic Games off to a strong start, recording their first Olympic win over the last 24 years. Canada defeated Group A rivals Greece 86-79, with RJ Barrett scoring 23 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 21, and Dillon Brooks scoring 14.
Greece struggled to contain the Canadian offence, while star player Giannis Antetokounmpo was unable to turn his team’s fortunes around despite scoring 34 points to lead both teams’ offences. Since the start of the match, Greece were on the backfoot, ultimately trailing the Canadians for the duration of the match.
Canada established a 16-point lead at one point, never giving up their advantage. Vasilis Toilopoulos scored with 1:15 remaining on the board to bring Greece within four points of the leaders, while Antetokounmpo won a turnover and scored to bring Greece within two points at 80-78. Fortunately for Canada, their defence held strong from that moment while the Gilgeous-Alexander managed to restore their four-point advantage just 42.8 seconds before the final buzzer.
Victory over Greece will no doubt provide Canada with a much-needed boost as they seek to advance from the group stage. Canada still has Australia and Spain to play.
