The 2023 FIBA World Cup is set to start on Aug. 25, but before the international tournament teams will play a handful of exhibition games.
Team Canada has a five-game slate of exhibition matches. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort began their campaign by facing Germany on Tuesday, Aug. 9.
Despite a valiant comeback attempt, Canada fell short, 86-81, to Germany. Gilgeous-Alexander had a solid second quarter while Dort had a stellar fourth quarter.
In 22 minutes, Gilgeous-Alexander scored eight points on 2-of-10 shooting and four rebounds. Dort had 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting including going 2-of-4 from 3.
Canada got off to a slow start as they quickly trailed Germany 27-14 following the first quarter. That deficit grew to 16 points by halftime as Germany led Canada, 50-34.
Leaving halftime, Canada had a much better outing in the third quarter as they cut Germany’s lead to 66-58 by the end of the 10-minute session. Despite cutting the deficit to single digits, Canada couldn’t overcome the hole they dug themselves into early in this one.
Let’s look at some instant reactions and highlights to the five-point loss as Gilgeous-Alexander tries to lead Canada to hardware later this month.