France and Canada made it through Olympic qualifier group play unbeaten, while New Zealand and Turkey also advanced to the semifinals in Manilla.
The group stages are done and the semifinals are set, The group stage went as per script except for where they finished in the groups. Canada played a lot better than their world ranking of 26th.
The first semifinal is between Canada and New Zealand. On ranking, the Kiwis should win this; on form Canada looks great. The second semifinal is between France and Turkey. This one for me is just took close to call. Turkey is the top ranked team, but France is playing well even though Nicolas Batum has not seen any court time.
The two teams already knocked out of the tournament are Senegal and the Phillipines.
Canada
Behind strong play from their NBA players, Canada has been much better than their ranking of 26 in the world. In their two games, they beat Turkey 77-69 and then beat Senegal 58-55.
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Cory Joseph was the leading scorer for Canada and the equal third leading scorer of the group stages. He scored 17 points in 33.8 minutes per game, his best game being a 21-point outing against Turkey.
Melvin Ejim and Tyler Ennis were second on the team with 9.0 points per game apiece.
Tristan Thompson leads Canada’s rebounding which is unsurprising. He was fourth in the group stages, collecting 8.0 per game, including 10 against Senegal.
Khem Birch was second with 7.0 per game.
France
The other unbeaten team of the tournament was France, who did not play their best player in Nicolas Batum. They beat the Philippines 93-84 and then beat New Zealand 66-59.
Nando De Colo was France’s leading scorer and third overall in the group stages with 17.0 points in 28.8 minutes per game. His best game was 27 points against the Philippines, which was the second best game in all qualifying tournaments behind 30 points from Andray Blatche for the Philippines against New Zealand
Tony Parker was second on the team with 13.5 points in 27.3 minutes per game.
Boris Diaw led France’s rebounding with 7.5 rebounds per game including nine against the Philippines. De Colo and Mickael Gelabale were second with 5.5 per game.
New Zealand
New Zealand started well with a win against the Philippines 89-80. They were then beaten by France 66-59.
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Corey Webster was New Zealand’s leading scorer and the second leading scorer in the group stages with 22.0 points in 30.9 minutes per game. His best game was 23 points against the Philippines.
Tai Jack Webster was second on the team and equal third overall with 17.0 points in 28.3 minutes per game.
Webster also led New Zealands rebounding with 9.5 rebounds per game to also be equal second in the group stages. This included an 11-rebound effort against the Philippines.
Isaac Fotu and Mika Vukona were tied for second with 7.5 per game.
Turkey
Turkey should have dominated this group stage by ranking. Instead, they lost the first game to Canada, 77-69, before qualifying for the semifinals by beating Senegal, 68-62.
Ali Muhammed was Turkey’s leading scorer with 12.0 points in 26.5 minutes per game. His best game was 23 points against Senegal.
Semi Erden and Sinan Guler were second on the team with 11.0 points per game.
Erden was Turkey’s leading rebounder and second in the group stages overall with 9.5 rebounds in 23.4 minutes per game. His best game was 11 against Senegal.
Omer Asik was second on the team with 6.0 rebounds in 17 minutes per game.
The first semifinal between Canada and New Zealand should be great to watch. The Canadians should get up because their NBA talent is better than New Zealand’s NBL talent. If Steven Adams were playing, the game could have taken a different course.
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The other semifinal between Turkey and France could be the match of any of the qualifying tournaments. France should probably get over the line on that one.