Canada beat Team USA to the FIBA World Cup’s bronze medal in a thrilling overtime display

Despite Mikal Bridges‘ miraculous effort to push the game into overtime, Canada beat Team USA and earned the 2023 FIBA World Cup’s third place, their first basketball medal in 87 years.

“We really wanted to play the U.S.,” said Houston’s Dillon Brooks, who outscored every player on court with an impressive 39 points to his name. “We got our wish.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, was another force to be reckoned with in this North American derby, as he dropped 31 points and handed out 12 assists this Sunday. After beating the United States 127 to 118, the Canadians conquered their first medal in a global men’s tournament since 1936.

“We won the first 40 minutes. Well, obviously not, but we won the majority of the first 40 minutes and we didn’t think it was a fluke,” the Thunder star said. “So, we just tried to focus on winning the next five.”

Bronze gang. 🇨🇦×🥉#FIBAWC x #WinForAll pic.twitter.com/xgqkECWUIC

— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) September 10, 2023

As for Team USA, this was their second-consecutive World Cup appearance in which they return home without a medal. Historically, it is only the seventh time in 38 international participations in which they’ve not ended at least in the first three positions.

“The United States hasn’t won the World Cup since 2014,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr admmitted after the match. “It’s hard. These teams in FIBA are really good, well-coached, they’ve got continuity and they’ve played together for a long time. This is difficult and it’s been difficult already.”

Even though they were favorites at the start of the competition, they lost three out of their last four contests, leaving the floor in frustration. “All of the above,” Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton acknowledged the disappointment.

Another player who excelled in this third-place matchup was Knicks star RJ Barrett, who hit 23 points for a Canadian squad who marked 6-2 in this international tournament. Incredibly, this was only the second time in 23 games in which they beat the United States, the first time was back in a FIBA Americas event in 2005.

Unfortunately for Team USA, they lost three sensible athletes for this contest, as Jaren Jackson Jr., Paolo Banchero and Brandon Ingram all fell to illness before the contest.

“This team was amazing, special,” Canada coach Jordi Fernandez said. “It’s the beginning of something that’s going to last for a long time.”

Team USA recognized their faults against Canada’s superiority, acknowledging they played poor defense

With 4.2 seconds left to the game, Bridges pulled off an exceptional shot that kept the United States in the game for a chance at overtime.

“Just tried to miss it right. That’s kind of where you want the ball to be at in situations like that,” said the Brooklyn foward, who hit 19 points in total. “Just read and react … went and shot it.”

Check out the complete highlights of this thrilling match between the two North American giants:

The two-highest scorers for Team USA were Austin Reaves with 23 points, and Anthony Edwards with 24 to his name. The Wolves star recognized Canada’s superiority as their own defense failed to stop Brooks and Gilgeous-Alexander.

“Super tough, but can’t win them all,” he said. “Came up short, twice. I mean, we couldn’t get no stops. Our defense was pretty bad.”