By Anthony Sevilla
EBC Canada Bureau
VANCOUVER (Eagle News) — Chris Boucher and R.J Barrett led the way for Team Canada to a 97-62 win over Team China at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
Despite playing his first game with the Senior National Team, Barrett was by far the best player in the first half. The High School Gatorade National Player of the Year and incoming Duke Freshman finished the game with 16 points, two assists and two steals. Boucher, the Player of the Game for Canada, finished the game with 17 points along with five blocks.
Team Canada Head Coach, Jay Triano, gave the nod to Barrett to start in his first appearance for the Senior Men’s national team. Barrett was aggressive on the offensive end right from the start of tipoff. Despite his young age, he showed no signs of inexperience and was not afraid to make contact in the paint on his driving lanes to the basket. He was the offensive force that Team Canada was missing. Barrett contributed 12 points, two assists and two steals in just 18 minutes in the first half.
Canada Head Coach Jay Triano described how much Barrett helped Team Canada in his first appearance with the Senior National team.
“I thought he was great. I thought he was really good” Triano said. “Defensively, there’s a few things that he’ll get better at, as far as his awareness of the basketball. But he’s electric when he’s got the basketball. He’s got a great feel for the game. He knows how to get to the basket and he could make shots. He didn’t really make a lot of shots as far as jump shots, but made plays for other people.”
Barrett described how playing alongside the NBA guys on the roster helped him in his first game for the senior national program.
“Very helpful. They’re always talking to me on the court. If you look at it, everyone’s always talking to each other giving me, you know, positive feedback. And you know, it’s helpful,” Barrett said. “It’s a different experience, but it’s a lot of fun. Everybody got to do a thing, everybody played well. That kind of game is really fun.”
Boucher was named the game MVP for Canada. He had a game-high 5 blocks, along with17 points. His interior defense caused major problems offensively for China the entire game.
Canada held China to only 62 points, due to their team’s strong man to man defense led by Boucher, who was the anchor for Canada inside the paint. His interior defense forced China to be more hesitant to play inside, forcing them to make bad shots mainly from long distance. Boucher found out earlier that morning that the Golden State Warriors waived him, but that did not stop him from being aggressive.
“No, it’s just me putting more effort. I’m just coming back from injury. It’s just another step I have to go through. Just having the opportunity to play again. Putting all my energy in it and see what happens,” Boucher said.
He also mentioned the influence that the Warrior’s all-stars have taught him when it comes to work ethic especially on the defensive end.
“It definitely helps. Especially guys like Draymond Green where I feel like I can do the same thing, and you know, talking a lot,” Boucher said. “Just telling them where to be, calling switch and screens and I feel like being around those guys like Kevin Durant, two time MVP that definitely is helping me out, and I feel like I can go to the gym an get better because these guys do it, so I feel like I have to do it too to get better.”
Canada used this short window to integrate their NBA players joining this squad to prepare for their upcoming FIBA World Cup Qualifying matches this summer. With the new FIBA qualifying format, Canada has had to rely heavily on their players from the NBA G League and from overseas.
China’s team doesn’t face the same problems as Canada with their chemistry. China’s core of young talent has been intact throughout this year, competing in various tournaments in Asia, but were without their best players in Yi Jianlian and Zhou Qi, who normally carry the load offensively for China.
Arguably at the peak of the golden age for Canada Basketball, Canada currently features 15 players currently on NBA rosters, the most of any other country besides the United States. However, not everyone has fully committed to this national team program, so this Canadian squad will have to rely on this current group to lead Canada in order to qualify for the FIBA World Cup and hopefully the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where Canada has not participated for 20 years.
(Eagle News Service)
