Canada got a sense of how much work they still have to do ahead of the FIBA Americas Championship as they were on the wrong end of a 106-44 rout by France on Tuesday night.
Boris Diaw had a huge night for the French with 16 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while Michael Gelabale added 15 points. Denham Brown and Levon Kendall led Canada with eight points each.
However, they were held to just 29% shooting from the field and had just 17 points at half-time, with France having started the game on a 17-4 run to lead 57-17 at the break.
“Once the machine has started, it is hard to stop,” is how Diaw summed up France’s performance after the game.
Canada will need to hope the improvement shown in the second half is a sign of better things to come when the two teams met again in the second game of his mini-series, which France are using as part of their EuroBasket preparations.
H/N FIBA
