The 2024 Olympics has seen one of its medal favorites for basketball crash out in the quarter-finals, as Canada lost 73-82 to home nation France in an early exit. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been leading Canada through the Olympics admirably but was critical of himself and his teammates after the shock exit.
“Nobody does (thought that they’d go home at this stage). But if you don’t earn it, sometimes it happens. You lose. No, we didn’t (earn it). Not with the way we started… I think it was just the start, the urgency, the investment, and not paying attention to the details. When you start like that, it’s hard to play against any team.”
“They played with more energy, more force, and were more aggressive on both ends of the floor.”
The loss meant a lot to Shai, as the usually muted guard couldn’t hold his emotions in towards the end of the game, openly emotional on the bench about the early end of his Olympic campaign.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander emotional as Canada is eliminated from the 2024 Paris Olympics pic.twitter.com/ylOFsbrsm2
— NBA World (@NBAW0RLD24) August 6, 2024
SGA put up 27 points, five rebounds, and four assists against France but it wasn’t enough as non-NBA players such as Mathias Lessort and Guerschon Yabusele had a massive impact on France with Rudy Gobert barely playing and Evan Fournier coming in clutch in the fourth quarter to put this game away.
Shai can be proud of his effort at the tournament, averaging 21.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists through four games.
He’ll have a week or so to wallow in the disappointment of this performance but has to come back stronger than ever to lead the OKC Thunder to a championship run after their emergence last season and strong offseason moves to strengthen their roster.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Will Hope To Do What Kevin Durant And Russell Westbrook Couldn’t
The Olympics will be disappointing but Shai needs to move on from this loss as soon as possible. The OKC Thunder are entering next season as the favorites in the Western Conference, hoping to improve on their second-round exit from last season. As a result, the team has made some phenomenal moves to address exactly what they need.
Even with om-ball defenders like Lu Dort, the Thunder couldn’t hold down the Mavericks offense in the Playoffs due to the presence of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, allowing them to create open shots which players like P.J. Washington converted to eliminate the Thunder. They were also punished on the inside by the dynamic center pair of Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II.
Adding Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey is a move designed to stop teams from doing that to them, as a defensive duo of Caruso and Dort might be too much to handle for any backcourt in the NBA. Adding Isaiah Hartenstein to play alongside Chet Holmgren is designed to eliminate the inside advantage the Mavs exploited to beat OKC.
They re-signed the right players on a team-friendly contract and are still among the most asset-rich teams in the NBA. Shai could bring the first title to Oklahoma City since the team moved here in 2008, a feat that MVPs Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook failed to achieve before leaving the franchise.
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