{"id":40447,"date":"2021-06-28T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T12:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=40447"},"modified":"2021-06-27T10:00:20","modified_gmt":"2021-06-27T14:00:20","slug":"canada-vs-greece-mens-olympic-basketball-qualfiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2021\/06\/28\/canada-vs-greece-mens-olympic-basketball-qualfiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada vs Greece Men\u2019s Olympic Basketball Qualifiers Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Canada vs Greece will be Canada\u2019s first game in the Olympic qualifying tournament. They will face possibly their biggest adversary in Greece. Greece is one of the three teams that might prevent Canada from making it to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Canada vs Greece in Men&#8217;s Olympic Qualifier<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Canada<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h4><strong>Players on the Canadian Men&#8217;s Basketball Team<\/strong><\/h4>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Canada Basketball releases a 19-man training camp roster, which includes 8 NBAers: Andrew Wiggins, RJ Barrett, Cory Joseph, Dwight Powell, Lu Dort, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Trey Lyles, Mychal Mulder. They&#39;ll have to cut it down to 12 before leaving Tampa for Victoria on Thurs.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JLew1050\/status\/1406986594293268480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 21, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Canadian men\u2019s basketball team qualified for the Olympic qualifiers after being one of the top five of the Americas in the 2019 FIBA World Cup. They finished twenty-first in the FIBA World Cup. This is disappointing, but it is also important to note that not many Canadian NBA players participated in the FIBA World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>There are a total of eight NBA players on the roster. The most notable ones being New York Knicks shooting guard <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barrerj01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RJ Barrett<\/a><\/strong> and Golden State Warriors small forward <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wiggian01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andrew Wiggins<\/a><\/strong>. In the 2020-21 NBA season, Wiggins averaged 18.6 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game.<\/p>\n<p>This is while Barrett averaged 17.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in the 2020-21 NBA season. There are also other talented players on the roster like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dortlu01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luguentz Dort<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/josepco01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cory Joseph<\/a><\/strong>, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/alexani01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nickeil Alexander-Walker<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h4>RJ Barrett and Nick Nurse<\/h4>\n<p>Barrett will be a key addition to the Canadian men\u2019s national team. He won the gold for the Canadian men\u2019s basketball U-17 team in 2019. This included defeating the U.S. in the semi-finals. This is what Barrett said according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coastreporter.net\/national-sports\/knicks-rj-barrett-says-timing-perfect-for-canadian-basketball-team-3884785\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Canadian Press<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I always cherish that. No one can ever take that away from me and no one can ever take that away from my country. I say that with great pride,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It\u2019s also why I\u2019m here right now. I\u2019m trying to bring that feeling back to Canada, bring a medal back home.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Official: We&#39;ve promoted Nick Nurse to be our 9th Head Coach in franchise history. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WeTheNorth?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WeTheNorth<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>More \u00bb <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IhdiqiOaOC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/IhdiqiOaOC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QvOQmN2VDG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/QvOQmN2VDG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Raptors\/status\/1007314575354499072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 14, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/nick-nurse-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nick Nurse<\/a><\/strong>, the current head coach of the Canadian men\u2019s national team, is also the current head coach of the Toronto Raptors. He has been with the Raptors organization since he became an assistant coach in 2013. Nurse became the head coach before the 2018-19 NBA season began.<\/p>\n<p>He has coached against many of these players on the list. This included Dort, who made an impression on Nurse this year. There was another article that looked at the in-depth roster of the Canadian men\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n<p>The Canadian men&#8217;s national team appeared in the Summer Olympics nine times. However, their last appearance in the Olympics was in 2000. Their best performance was getting silver in the 1936 Summer Olympics.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Greece<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h4><strong>Performances in preview FIBA World Cup and Summer Olympics<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Greek Team Basketball Olympics 2004\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UBxnf4sJHxk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ranked sixth overall, the Greek men&#8217;s basketball team is currently the highest-ranked of six teams in the Victoria Olympics qualifiers. They barely failed to make the quarter-finals stage. They finished with the same record as the Czech Republic in the group stage play. However, the Czech\u2019s had a slightly better points differential than Greece and made it to the quarter-finals stage of the 2019 FIBA World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The last time Greece made the Olympic games was in 2008. In that year, they were eliminated by Argentina by a scoreline of 80-78 in the quarterfinals. They were also the hosts of the Athens Summer Olympics in 2004. Most famously, the Greeks will be remembered for eliminating the Americans from the 2006 FIBA World Cup. Greece ended up losing in the final to Spain 70-47.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Players who played for the Greek Men&#8217;s Basketball Team<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1380883263355375617<\/p>\n<p>The Greeks are also known for the three Antetokounmpo brothers that currently play in the NBA. The most notable one include two-times NBA Most Valuable Player <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetgi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a><\/strong>. Also, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetth01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Thanasis Antetokounmpo<\/a><\/strong>, will also not participate in this year\u2019s Olympic qualifiers. This is because both players play for the Milwaukee Bucks, who are currently playing in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.<\/p>\n<p>This leaves Greece with only one NBA player. This is <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetko01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kostas Antetokounmpo<\/a><\/strong>, who currently plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. Kostas averaged 0.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game in the 2020-21 NBA season. This included getting three points, and one rebound and assist each on April 10 against the Brooklyn Nets.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurohoops.net\/en\/national-teams\/1215660\/kostas-antetokounmpo-joins-greek-nt-practices\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eurohoops<\/a>, Kostas has been training with the Greek men\u2019s national team. It is very likely that he will play on June 29 against Canada. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/rick-pitino-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rick Pitino<\/a><\/strong>, the current head coach of the Iona Gaels men\u2019s team, will be the head coach of Greece. He also coached the Boston Celtics from 1997-2001.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Greece\u2019s absences in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament: <\/p>\n<p>Giannis Antetokounmpo (NBA)<br \/>Thanasis Antetokounmpo (NBA) <br \/>Tyler Dorsey (personal decision) <br \/>Georgios Printezis (ankle)<br \/>Ioannis Papapetrou (knee)<br \/>Vassilis Spanoulis (calf) <br \/>Kostas Papanikolaou (shoulder)<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dionysis Aravantinos (@AravantinosDA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AravantinosDA\/status\/1407363054149513221?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 22, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>There are also other notable players from the Greek national team missing including <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/ioannis-papapetrou-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ioannis Papapetrou<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/printgi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Georgios Printezis<\/a><\/strong>. However, one absentee that really hurts Greece is not having <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/spanova01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vassilis Spanoulis<\/a><\/strong> on the team. He is a decorated Greek national team player who won silver in the 2006 FIBA World Cup. He also won gold in the 2005 EuroBasket and bronze in the 2008 EuroBasket.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Canada vs Greece Olympic Qualifiers Overview<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h4><strong>Canada and how they match up with Greece<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The Canadians should be the overwhelming favourites in this game. Yes, not all their NBA players are playing in the Olympic qualifiers. But when looking at the best player at every position in these Olympic qualifiers, Canada has the best players.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEK v Flamengo - Final - Highlights - FIBA Intercontinental Cup 2019\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c7gRenQT0ac?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This is not to underestimate Greece. They have one of the best basketball leagues in the world with the Greek Basketball League. A clear example of this was in 2018 and 2019 with the AEK Basketball Club.\u00a0 They won the Basketball Champions League in Europe in 2018. This allowed AEK to participate in the 2019 FIBA Intercontinental Cup, which they also won.<\/p>\n<p>This game should not be a blowout. Also, it is important to note that these games are played with FIBA rules, which are a bit different than the NBA rules.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">After working closely with BC Public Health, we have just now been approved to host up to 10% of capacity at the Save On Foods Memorial Centre for games on July 1, 3, and 4.<\/p>\n<p>To our ever-patient ticket holders, we are ironing out the final details and will be in touch very soon.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; We The West (@wethewestfest) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wethewestfest\/status\/1408610452305702916?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 26, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Even still, there is a reason why the NBA is considered the best league in the world. Many of these Canadians are making a huge impact on their teams and will play in comfortable surroundings in Canada. Even with limited fans allowed into the games from July 1 onwards, there is also a comfort that all these players are playing in their home country.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prediction: Canada wins this game by 15 points.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Nick Nurse vs Rick Pitino<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>This game could be moderately close at some stages of the game. However, the Canadian men\u2019s basketball team on paper is much better than the Greek men\u2019s basketball team. This is the same case with the head coaches. Credit to Pitino, who accomplished a lot at the college level and also has experience coaching at the NBA level.<\/p>\n<p>However, Nurse right now is considered one of the best head coaches in the NBA right now with a 2019 Larry O&#8217;Brien Championship Trophy and a 2020 NBA All-Star Game appearance as a head coach to add to his name. It will be very difficult for Greece to find a way to break down this Canadian men\u2019s basketball team.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">ONE WEEK AWAY FROM \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\udfc0 OLYMPIC QUALIFIER<\/p>\n<p>Game one &#8212; Canada vs Greece in Victoria Tuesday, June 29th at 7pm ET. Watch every game on CBC TV. I&#39;ll be bringing you all the sights and sounds from the court. <\/p>\n<p>Canada looking to qualify for the first time since 2000. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CBCOlympics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CBCOlympics<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uzSNWBXRqR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/uzSNWBXRqR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Devin_Heroux\/status\/1407349363374964744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 22, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>This game will be televised nationally on CBC TV at 7:05 p.m. ET on June 29. They will also televise other Olympic qualifiers in Victoria. This includes the Canada vs. China game, which will take place at 7:05 p.m. ET on June 30. All games in Canada&#8217;s Olympic qualifiers will take place at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.<\/p>\n<p>The winner of these qualifiers in Victoria will go to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2021\/02\/11\/tokyo-olympics-basketball-groups-overview\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Group A of the Summer Olympic Games in men&#8217;s basketball<\/a>. Group A currently consists of France, Iran, and the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"ycvwkxqdRcF5znpLCfadpQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1168410402\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'ycvwkxqdRcF5znpLCfadpQ',sig:'F7UYJ6xo9XZDs_rglbMUehGvZyVsmwRIyKK9AaODm4o=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1168410402',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Canada vs Greece will be Canada\u2019s first game in the Olympic qualifying tournament. They will face possibly their biggest adversary in Greece. Greece is one of the three teams that might prevent Canada from making it to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. Canada vs Greece in Men&#8217;s Olympic Qualifier Canada Players on the Canadian Men&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3104,"featured_media":40564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,1608],"tags":[212,3667,4352,2079,1612,1052,1242,1964,4345],"class_list":["post-40447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-basketball","category-basketball","tag-andrew-wiggins","tag-canadian-mens-basketball","tag-greek-mens-basketball","tag-kostas-antetokounmpo","tag-nick-nurse","tag-olympics","tag-rick-pitino","tag-rj-barrett","tag-save-on-foods-memorial-centre"],"modified_by":"Matthew Waldman","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}