Tag: canada basketball

Team USA basketball piled on Drake’s misery by playing Not Like Us after defeating Canada

Drake is probably in his feelings after this one.

The rivalry between Drake and Kendrick Lamar means many things, but it just became even more impactful after an exhibition basketball game.

Sports fans are no stranger to rivalries on and off the court, even if we have not seen many athletes go the lengths that these rappers have done to show how much they dislike each other.

But the ongoing beef between the popular musicians briefly spilled onto the basketball court after a Wednesday showcase between Team USA and Team Canada in Las Vegas to prepare the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Despite a poor showing from Joel Embiid in this game, Team USA ended up with the victory. After the win, USA Basketball celebrated by playing “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar on the Jumbotron.

We have seen athletes (including LeBron James, DeMar DeRozan, Russell Westbrook, and plenty more) seemingly take Lamar’s side by dancing to the song in public.

But the players on Team Canada, where Drake is from, may not have the same opinion about the music. Canada’s Dillon Brooks, who has his own longstanding beef with LeBron, certainly seemed frustrated after the game.

Drake is a massive sports fan and a proud Canadian. If I were him, I would probably be in my feelings after this one.

Meanwhile, these two teams could potentially play each at some point in Paris. If that happens, it is certainly worth watching for potential fireworks both on and off the court.

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Joel Embiid’s Team USA debut went about as poorly as possible and basketball fans were unforgiving

There will be better games ahead for Joel Embiid.

It was a big win for the U.S. when Joel Embiid made the decision in April to play for Team USA over France or Cameroon for the 2024 Olympics. He gave the team a much-needed size boost to hold up against some of the bigger teams they’ll face in Paris.

That decision did not pay immediate dividends in his exhibition debut for Team USA, though.

Embiid fouled out in the third quarter of Wednesday’s game against Canada after just 12 minutes on the floor. That includes an unsportsmanlike foul for elbowing Dwight Powell in the face. He finished with five points on 2-of-5 shooting with six rebounds, two assists and four turnovers.

The former MVP that he is, Embiid will almost certainly have better games to come. But that didn’t stop basketball fans on social media from ripping him for his struggles adjusting to international rules.

Social media reaction to Joel Embiid

Here are the 8 teams that qualified for the 2024 Olympics in Paris at the 2023 FIBA World Cup

USA and Canada men’s basketball have both qualified for the Olympics.

Although each national team wants to win the tournament, the FIBA World Cup also helps determine what nations will qualify for the Olympics.

Only a dozen teams will compete in Paris and we already know six of those nations, which we will review below. The placements thus far are based on universality, to ensure each continent is represented, and performance at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

The host nation (France) automatically earns a bid to play in the tournament. Two teams from the Americas, two teams from Europe, one team from Asia, one team from Africa and one team from Oceania will also get placement as well.

If a team is listed in bold, that means they have officially punched their ticket and will compete in the 2024 Olympics.

Three asterisks next to the nation indicate that the team made it to the final phase of the tournament before elimination but still qualified for a wildcard spot via the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in July 2024.

Similarly, two asterisks next to the nation indicate that the team made it to the second round of the tournament before elimination but qualified for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament as well.

One asterisk next to the nation indicates that the team did not make it to the second round of the tournament but also managed to qualify for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in the class of 17 – 32.

Meanwhile, a strikethrough on the team name suggests that based on their performance during the FIBA World Cup, the team did not qualify for any of the four Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

The four winners of the four Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, meanwhile, will join the followng eight teams in Paris at the 2024 Olympics.

Dillon Brooks was booed, blew kisses and eventually ejected from FIBA World Cup quarterfinal win

Dillon Brooks also wore boxing gloves after the game was over.

Basketball fans watched the full Dillon Brooks experience during the 2023 FIBA World Cup quarterfinal match between Canada and Slovenia.

Before the game even began, during player introductions, Brooks was met with a shower of boos from those who attended the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.

His entrance felt a lot like watching a wrestling heel about to enter the ring before a fight, which is fitting considering he once dressed exactly like the famous wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin.

The beginning of the game absolutely set the tone for what ended up as a very wild day for Brooks, who will have a chance to represent Canada in the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA World Cup against Serbia on Sept. 8.

Brooks, who continued to receive boos from the crowd every single time that he touched the ball, seemed motivated by the reactions he received.

After connecting on a 3-pointer in the first quarter, Brooks blew kisses to the people in the crowd who continued to root against him.

Later in the game, after connecting on another 3-pointer, Brooks once again blew kisses to his naysayers.

It was quite a spectacle from Brooks, who clearly wasn’t trying to gain any new fans with anything but his play on the court.

Brooks was 5-for-7 (2-for-3 3PA) from the field and was tasked with tough defensive assignments, guarding Luka Doncic for several assignments during the game.

But he was eventually disqualified for the game due to taunting Doncic.

Brooks finished with 14 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal after 28 minutes of play during the game against Slovenia.

Overall, however, it was best described as “the full Dillon Brooks experience” from the moment the game started until the moment it ended.

Even after Canada won the game and advanced to the semifinals, meanwhile, Brooks stayed as entertaining as ever.

He put on boxing gloves and started jokingly jabbing with his coaches and his teammates. What a night from Brooks!

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Dennis Schröder trolled Dillon Brooks by pointing at him after a basket during a FIBA scrimmage

LeBron’s old teammate, Dennis Schröder, made rival Dillon Brooks look foolish.

Toronto Raptors guard Dennis Schröder is developing a heated rivalry with Houston Rockets wing Dillon Brooks during FIBA play.

Brooks, who was booed by the crowd during a previous exhibition game for Team Canada against Germany, hasn’t had it easy during these two games. During the first game, Schroder pulled a nasty crossover on Brooks and then pointed directly at him once the Houston wing fell to the floor.

When the two national teams played another exhibition game on Sunday, tensions got high once more multiple times during the game. Brooks had a very physical closeout when he was guarding Schröder on the perimeter.

Not long after that relatively intense moment, Schröder sprinted out for a full-court leak out and beat Brooks in transition.

Immediately after making the basket, the Rockets guard (once again!) pointed directly at Brooks. Here is the video:

I’m going to assume you’re going to want to see that again in slow motion in case you couldn’t quite make out what happened the first time.

So here you go, we made sure to take care of that for you:

It’s safe to say there is probably still some bad blood between the two players after an intense postseason series between the Lakers (where Schröder played last season) and the Grizzlies (where Brooks had previously played his entire career).

That much was apparent when the two were on the court during FIBA play.

Schröder, the captain, finished the exhibition match with a team-high 26 points (6-10 FG) with 8 assists. Brooks had 8 points (3-8 FG) but his team ended up with the victory in overtime.

Canada (and Brooks) may have the last once the tournament actually begins, too. The Canadians have the second-best odds to win the FIBA World Cup while the Germans are at eighth-best right now, according to DraftKings.

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Watch: 4-star girls forward Toby Fournier adds another dunk to highlight reel

Watch four-star forward Toby Fournier throw down a two-handed dunk on a fast break.

Dunking in a dunk contest is one thing – doing it in a live game is another. Crestwood Secondary (Toronto) forward Toby Fournier can do both. She won top prize in April at the BioSteel All-Canadian Dunk Contest. And now, Fournier is continuing to rise above the rim during games.

Watch her throw down a two-handed dunk on this fast break.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck6IHSXOEeo/

Fournier is ranked No. 23 in the class of 2024 according to ESPN.

She has yet to commit to a school. However, last month, she narrowed the possible choices down to eight finalists: UConn, South Carolina, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan, Stanford and Arizona.

Andrew Wiggins leads an unbelievable comeback, but Canada falls to the Czech Republic 103-101

Andrew Wiggins led one of the wildest FIBA comebacks of all time, but Canada fell short in OT against the Czech Republic to end their Olympic hopes

Nothing went right for Canada on their home soil until the last 50 seconds of regulation against the Czech Republic. The heavily favored Canadian team featuring Golden State Warriors swingman Andrew Wiggins, New York Knicks PG RJ Barrett, and six other NBA talents bowed out of Olympic qualifying in a 103-101 OT loss to the Czech Republic.

The first half went against the expected script with the Czechs dominating the game on both ends and taking a surprising 8-point lead into the break. Chicago Bulls guard Tomas Satoransky and French League pro Blake Schilb led the way in both halves, as it was all comfortable for the underdogs until under a minute left in regulation.

The game and all hopes of an Olympic berth felt over for Canada as they trailed 92-82 with 57 seconds left. From there, a wild sequence of turnovers by the Czechs was capped off by six straight points for Wiggins, including the game-tying three with 17 seconds left, as the Canadians forced an improbable overtime session.

While the momentum carried over for the first few minutes of OT and helped Canada build a five-point lead, Satoransky got the last laugh with an off-glass gamer over Lu Dort:

A gorgeous set play from Canadian head coach/Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse got Trey Lyles a wide open look from 15 feet, but it rimmed out at the buzzer.

Schilb led all scorers with 31 points for the Czechs while Wiggins poured in 22 points and Barrett added 23 for Canada. The Czech Republic advance to take on the winner of Turkey-Greece with the winner heading to the Olympics in Tokyo.