The Czech Republic will play for a shot at Olympic glory thanks to a thrilling win over Canada on Saturday afternoon. Despite a furious comeback at the end of regulation to force overtime by the Canadians, which were eliminated from Olympic contention with the loss, a brilliant shot by Chicago Bulls guard Tomas Satoransky gave the Czechs a 103-101 win.
Satoransky’s jumper came right in the face of Oklahoma City guard Luguentz Dort, who played relentless defense but was just outclassed by the shot of Satoransky’s life.
Tomas Satoransky hits a TOUGH jumper to put Czech Republic up with 1.8 seconds left.#FIBAOQT pic.twitter.com/Yzwq6Ye1sG
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) July 3, 2021
While Canadian coach Nick Nurse drew up an out of bounds play that gave Trey Lyles a wide open jumper, the ball went halfway down before popping out. It was an unfortunate turn of events by the Canadians, as the team came back from a late deficit thanks to a 12-2 run spearheaded by Andrew Wiggins that even got things to the extra frame.
Canada found itself down 92-82 with 57 seconds left to play. Threes by Dort and RJ Barrett sandwiched a pair of made free throws by Satoransky, and in the final 17 seconds of the game, Wiggins scored six consecutive points, capped off by a triple off of a turnover forced by Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Andrew Wiggins with the clutch shot to force OT
pic.twitter.com/9AK9PdpZj1
— ESPN (@espn) July 3, 2021
But unfortunately for the Canadians, which entered qualifying with hopes of medaling in Tokyo, the Czechs were able to come out on top. They’ll move on to play the winner of Saturday’s game between Greece and Turkey for a spot in the Olympics, while Canada — which, it must be said, did not have the services of star guard Jamal Murray due to his ACL injury — will have to wait until 2024 for a shot at an Olympic medal.
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