canada vs. argentina - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Novice#41 · 08-30-2003, 12:09 PM

One More Win
Steve Nash and the Canada squad meet Argentina in Semifinals action on Saturday.
Should Canada win, the team will officially clinch a berth in the 2004 Summer Olympics.

SEMIFINALS
SATURDAY, AUG. 30
In San Juan, Puerto Rico
All times Eastern
Argentina Canada 7:30 p.m.
USA Puerto Rico 10 p.m.

GOOOO CANADA !!! GOOOO NASH !!!

mavsfanforever · 08-30-2003, 02:05 PM

Go Nash. To be frank Argentina is a better team than Canada. But nash can change it all.

MavsFanFinley · 08-30-2003, 05:04 PM

Go Argentina.

mary · 08-30-2003, 07:47 PM

End of first half, Argentina's ahead 51 - 34. Nash has 10 points but only 3 assists and 3 turnovers - not good. I'm a Nash fan, but quite frankly if Canada can manage to lose to both Argentina and Puerto Rico (if Canada loses tonight), then I'll be a happy camper. Just one less wrinkle to iron out next summer....

BTW, Ginobli's on fire - he had 20 points in first half.

EricaLubarsky · 08-30-2003, 09:17 PM

score ended up being 88- 72 Argentina

Nash only played 21 minutes and had only 12 pts, 4 assists, but 3 turnovers. He also missed one of his 3 ptrs (1-2) and one of his freethrows (3-4)

Ginobli did much better with 26 points, 5 for 7 from beyond the arc, 7of7 freethrows, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, but he also turned over 3 times. He played 39 minutes.

Novice#41 · 08-31-2003, 04:10 AM

unfortunately argentina defeats canada...

but

One More Try
Canada has one more chance to clinch an Olympic bid at 8 p.m. ET Sunday.
Canada will face Puerto Rico.

i still believe in nash resp canada ! they will defeat puerto rico tonight.

GOOO NASH !!! GOOO CANADA !!!

Chiwas · 08-31-2003, 01:34 PM

Today Canada plays against Puerto Rico. The winner will go to Athens, the loser will pack back home.

Also, the US plays against Argentina for the first place. What a game.

GO NASH!

mary · 08-31-2003, 03:51 PM

Does anyone know if PPV will be showing both games and not just USA?

Both of those games would definitely be worth watching.

(oh okay, Go Nash, hope ya win...yada yada yada)

Edited to add:

First half is over with, and it is has been UGLY. PR winning 44-30. Canada's having about 4 MAJOR problems right now.

1. Steve's shooting 1 for 9. No that wasn't a typo, so far Nash is shooting 11 %. And his misses aren't even remotely close to going in. Air balls have been rampant.

2. For all the missed shots Canada's had (team shooting is 29.4 %) they've only managed to pick up 3 of their own rebounds. I don't think they even picked up a single OR until the second quarter.

3. Canada's defense has been horrible. Puerto Rico just keeps taking it to the inside and putting it in the basket without any trouble at all. Canada's tried to to take it inside a couple of times, and they are just being completely shut down. PR's made 6 blocks so far compared to ZERO for Nash and Co.

4. The officiating is horrendous. At the end of the first half, PR put up a 3 pointer WAY after the buzzer and they counted it. Also, Stevie's getting banged up pretty badly.

I'm somewhat shocked. I really expected it to be a close game.

Chiwas · 08-31-2003, 09:19 PM

Puerto Rico destroyed Canada and will go to Athens along the US and Argentina.

Nash played 35 minutes, out of 40, had 10 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 STEALS, and....4 TO's.

Simon2 · 08-31-2003, 10:57 PM

At least Nash gets to rest. No more danger of him playing in these games.

EricaLubarsky · 09-01-2003, 12:01 AM

woo hoo! It's sad that Canada isnt represented in the Olympics, but Its great that Nash is healthy and can rest. I really didn't follow last offseason very closely, but didn't Nash play in the Olympics last year? Either way he's at least as rested as he was last year.

Mandyahl · 09-01-2003, 12:11 AM

uhh considering there weren't olympics last year...only the world championships...but i don't think he played last year anyways.

MavsFanFinley · 09-01-2003, 12:56 AM

Poor Nash.

EricaLubarsky · 09-01-2003, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Mandyahl
uhh considering there weren't olympics last year...only the world championships...but i don't think he played last year anyways.

Im such an idiot. Sorry! I need to get some sleep; I was working until 3am last night.

Mandyahl · 09-01-2003, 01:22 AM

no, sorry, when i reread what i said i was being a little harsh. sorry, sometimes i am too sarcastic without realizing it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

ames7 · 09-01-2003, 02:36 AM

Obviously I'm sad for Nash, but the selfish it's-all-about-the-Mavs part of me is VERY glad he'll be getting some rest before training camp.

Congrats, Steve, for being voted MVP of the tournament. [img]i/expressions/beer.gif[/img]

mary · 09-01-2003, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Simon2
At least Nash gets to rest. No more danger of him playing in these games.

The tournament ended last night. Here are the results:

USA - Gold
Argentina - Silver
Puerto Rico - Bronze

These three teams advance to the olympics to be held in Athens next summer.

Team Canada will have the entire summer off and Nash will have plenty of time to do his "shopping".

Simon2 · 09-01-2003, 07:59 AM

I couldn't find anything but how did Germany do?

Mandyahl · 09-01-2003, 08:06 AM

the european championships have not started yet...that was just the tournament for the americas, simon. i believe the ones in europe start in a week or so...

Simon2 · 09-01-2003, 08:08 AM

Ok. Thanks. Didn't Dirk get hurt a few weeks ago? What tournament was that?

Mandyahl · 09-01-2003, 08:20 AM

yeah, he got hurt in an exhibition game or some sort of a warmup game or something. the championships haven't started yet, but i think the team officials were saying that they were hoping he would be ready to play in them.

mary · 09-01-2003, 08:57 AM

Canada's Olympic dream crushed
It's 'Adios, Athens' for national squad
Hosts dominate in Olympic qualifier

DOUG SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—Big hearts and tough minds are laudable qualities in athletes — they can do wonders to help the less skilled overcome their limitations.

But on the biggest night of the summer, with all next summer on the line too, the Canadian national basketball team, with big-hearted, tough-minded athletes all through it, simply could not make up for its physical failings.

Dropping passes and missing shots and letting opponents get free on the boards at both ends of the floor, the Canadians saw their hopes of an appearance at next year's Athens Olympics dashed in a 79-66 loss to Puerto Rico.

"I don't know, maybe we ran out of gas, maybe we just overachieved early but we weren't good enough to qualify this time," said Steve Nash, who suffered through a 2-for-13 shooting night.

The hosts join the United States and Argentina as Olympic qualifiers from the FIBA-Americas tournament here, leaving Canada on the sidelines as it was in Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996, a streak interrupted only by its seventh-place finish in Sydney in 2000.

Not only will Canada now not compete in Athens — the third time in the last four Olympics that they've missed the Games — but there will be serious questions to be answered about the direction of the program.

Nash, reduced to throwing up wild shots because almost every pass he made was fumbled, has said he would re-examine his commitment to Canada's program after next summer.

Having played 10 of the last 12 years in everything from Olympics to world championship qualifiers, the 29-year-old native of Victoria will have to think long and hard about sticking around for either the 2006 world championships or 2008 Beijing Olympics.

If this was Nash's swan song, he went out in style, being named tournament MVP in voting by 50 members of the media. Nash got 16 votes, Argentina's Manu Genobili had 12 and Tim Duncan of the United States had 11.

With no Olympics next year, Canada will be reduced to playing exhibition games, perhaps on a tour of Athens-bound European countries, hardly the kind of event that would attract the country's NBA players.

"I'm not really going to think about that right now," said Nash. "It would be a little rash to decide what my future will be right now."

His running mate in the national program for the last decade sounded more ominous about the future.

"This marks the end for some of us," said Toronto's Rowan Barrett, who finished with 18 points on 8-for-19 shooting. "I don't know if I'll ever see Steve Nash in a national team uniform again. I don't know if I'll ever be in a national team uniform again. Guys are getting on.

"I don't know if I should even comment about this when I feel like this now but it's long summers, these tournaments are long and brutal and it's difficult to keep doing it year after year and play all year long. As you get older, it's more difficult to do that."

But it was the oldest player on the court, Puerto Rico's Jose Ortiz, who took control of last night's game and did not let go. The 39-year-old centre had the first triple-double of the tournament, with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and only missed what would have been an unbelievable quadruple-double by three blocked shots.

"Puerto Rico did a very nice job establishing inside play and we really had no answer for them," said Canadian coach Jay Triano.

With no answer for Ortiz or Daniel Santiago, the 7-foot-1 centre who added 15 points, Canada had to hope for a phenomenal effort from Nash and Barrett. When they weren't able to get off, no one else stepped up as Canada shot just 35 per cent from two-point range and 33 per cent from three.

"I think I would have thought we would have to overachieve to get to the Olympics but I thought that it was possible," said Nash. "Even (Saturday and yesterday), I would have thought it was possible. Looking back, I was probably right — we need to overachieve to qualify and it was too tough.

"We didn't have enough in the tank."

Chiwas · 09-01-2003, 12:34 PM

Quote:

"Puerto Rico did a very nice job establishing inside play and we really had no answer for them," said Canadian coach Jay Triano.

Doesn't it sound familiar?