What was supposed to be a promising campaign has now ended in a ticket home for Canada after being eliminated by France in the Olympics. In turn, fans have ganged up on Denver Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray for not showing up when it counted.
In a hard-fought matchup, the French men’s basketball team defeated Canada 82-73 to advance to the Paris Olympics semifinals. Led by Guerschon Yabusele’s 22 points and Victor Wembanyama’s strong presence on the boards, France was able to overcome an early deficit and maintain control throughout the game.
Despite Canada’s valiant comeback effort, led by Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander‘s 27 points and Toronto Raptors star RJ Barrett‘s 16, France’s balanced scoring and defensive intensity proved too much for their opponents. The French team, which had suffered a tough loss to Germany in the group stage, used the extra time to refocus and deliver a determined performance.
Notably, French coach Vincent Collet made some key lineup changes, including benching Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier. This move seemed to spark the team, as the new starting five of Wembanyama, Yabusele, Cordinier, Batum, and Ntilikina set the tone early with a 23-10 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Although Canada made a late push to cut the deficit to just five points, France’s composure and timely scoring, including a desperation half-court shot by Fournier, sealed the victory. The French team will now face Germany in the semifinals, as they seek to build on their silver medal finish in the Tokyo Games.
Fans React To Denver Nuggets Point Guard Jamal Murray’s Performance Over Horrible Olympic Averages
Unlike Barrett or SGA, Murray didn’t get to do much in Canada’s last game in the Olympics this year. This led fans to express their thoughts in a post shared by NBA on ESPN’s official Instagram account.
View this post on Instagram
“Maybe he is trying to stay healthy for an 82 game season,” chiefmuchaco1 said.
“Nah they got Westbrook,” thuglyfe.jay shared.
“As a laker fan u love to see this,” _itsjustdevonte posted.
“It’s not about height, Yuki Kawamura from Japan scored like 20 per game,” chalabes3 tweeted.
“Bro washed up sadly,” max_yb reacted.
“Only good against the lakers,” rubenm423 expressed.
“Can’t believe we got washed Jamal Murray before GTA6,” joe_scriv mentioned.
During the entire Olympics, Murray averaged around six points a game on 41.2 shooting from the field and a horrible 14.3 percent from deep. Moreover, the point guard played off the bench behind Gilgeous-Alexander, a role he’s not normally used to with the Nuggets.
Although he has spoken up on his performance by saying playing against the best teams in the world was an adjustment, fans are still disappointed with how it all ended for Canada. In any case, the point guard will now focus his sights on helping Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets compete in the NBA next season.
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