Canada weather early Latvian storm to stay unbeaten

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JAKARTA (Indonesia) - It took some time, but Canada eventually overwhelmed Latvia, 101-75, to complete a sweep of Group H at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

This is the first time Canada have won three World Cup games in a row since 1986. They had a sluggish start to this game, but they were just too talented to falter as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander starred again.

The turning point​: Latvia led by as many as 12 in the first half, but Canada hit back in style with SGA firing in 16 points in the third quarter to take control. The gap was eight points at 69-61 as Latvia rallied inside the fourth. However, the Canadians answered with an 11-0 run to open up the game and soon put the outcome beyond doubt.

TCL Player of the Game​: When Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wants to go, he just goes. On top of his 27 points, SGA also finished with 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. He is the first player to ever register at least 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in each of his first three games in the FIBA Basketball World Cup since the data was recorded from 1994.

Kelly Olynyk added 15 points and 6 rebounds, while RJ Barrett had 22 points and Nickeil Alexander-Walker contributed 14 points.

Stats don't lie​: Latvia utilized their trademark three-point shooting to keep Canada honest in the first half. Coach Luca Banchi's side shot 7-of-18 from beyond the arc by half-time. However, the law of averages caught up with them in the second half, where they made just three from the same number of attempts.

Bottom Line​: The Group H sweep sends Canada to the Second Round in very strong fashion. They will face defending champions Spain and either Brazil or Cote D'Ivoire in the next phase as they will target extending their unbeaten start and head to the Final Phase.

Despite losing here, Latvia join Canada in the next round of their debut World Cup campaign, but they are continuing their journey without influential captain Dairis Bertans, who was ruled out with injury suffered in the memorable win over France.

They said: "First of all, I want to congratulate our opponent, who played a very solid game. The numbers prove their very excellent performance from the arc, where they shot the ball very well. They proved their potential. From our side, in terms of focus, energy, and desire to impose our basketball style, it was difficult to face such physicality and talent. We were missing some energy because playing a team like them cost a lot of energy to compete with their intensity. But we gave our fans the vibes and emotion that we were here to compete and not just to celebrate the goal we achieved. I believe that Latvia tonight deserved the applause of our fans." - Luca Banchi, Latvia head coach

"The half-time was pretty good, but then we kind of came out sloppy. As expected, they were aggressive, and we couldn't respond to that. They found a way, and we didn't do the job in the fourth quarter, unfortunately." - Rodions Kurucs, Latvia

"I give these guys a lot of credit. We were not doing the right things. We played against a very good team, very well-coached with all their fans. You know the line from a song '10,000 spoons but all I need is a knife?' From Alanis Morissette, Canadian. You know I think Nickeil was the knife. He came in, played really hard and defended. When he was open, he hit all those threes. I'm very happy for the collective effort for the three quarters when we were very disciplined. But we didn't start well, we faced adversity, and that's really good for us as a group." - Jordi Fernandez, Canada head coach

"We started slow. We weren't playing to our identity, not playing selfless. And then going into the second, we just started to do the little things, play for each other, get out on defense, box out, rebound, and make the extra pass. We played the right way, and the game slowly turned for us." - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Canada

FIBA