sa国际传媒 plays the Czech Republic today at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre and there won鈥檛 be a hockey stick in sight.
Two national teams looking to make inroads for basketball in their respective nations meet today at 1 p.m. (full CBC network) in the semifinals of the Victoria qualifier as one side will take a major step toward the 2020 Plus One Olympic Games this month in Tokyo. The other will be left to mull a dream denied once again.
sa国际传媒 has not been to the Olympics in men鈥檚 basketball since two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash of Victoria led the national team to the 2000 Sydney Games. The Czechs have never been to the Olympics in hoops. Both teams have plenty to prove.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always soccer or ice hockey in our country,鈥� said Czech basketball star Tomas Satoransky of the Chicago Bulls, his country鈥檚 lone NBA player.
鈥淲e want to put basketball on the map in our country and make the sport more popular. Qualifying for the Olympics would be a dream come true for our country.鈥�
Czech hockey players, from Jaromir Jagr to Dominik Hasek, are well known to Canadians. But soccer rules supreme with the Czechs in the Euro quarter-finals today against the Danes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great help to our motivation how our national [soccer] team fought to get there,鈥� said Czech basketball team coach Ronen Ginzburg.
鈥淏ut our [basketball] team already had that motivation 鈥� to sacrifice to play for your country.鈥�
The Czech Republic is looking for its Olympic debut after its surprise sixth-place finish in the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China. The Czechs (1-1) beat Uruguay 80-79 in a nail-biter Thursday in group play in the qualifier on Blanshard Street to advance to the semifinals after losing to a classy-looking Turkish national side in the opener.
鈥淲e have great chemistry and have played together a long time and know what to expect,鈥� said Satoransky.
鈥淎nytime you put on the Czech jersey, you always play with pride.鈥�
sa国际传媒 (2-0), with eight current and two former NBA players, should be favoured. Head coach Nick Nurse echoed many observers when he said: 鈥淭his is the golden age of basketball in sa国际传媒.鈥�
But the Canadian cagers need only look to the similarly-touted current Belgian Golden Generation of soccer players, world No. 1-ranked, but who have been vastly disappointing underperformers at World Cups and Euros, including once again Friday in the quarter-finals against Italy in Munich.
鈥淲e like the pressure 鈥� we want to prove we鈥檙e ready now to make it,鈥� countered Canadian defensive-forward Luguentz Dort of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA, a native of Montreal.
sa国际传媒 will play in front of fans for the first time in the tournament with 10 percent capacity being allowed by the sa国际传媒 health office for the 7,400-seat Memorial Centre, which represents the first live spectators for a sporting event in sa国际传媒 and Western sa国际传媒 since March 2020. It鈥檚 all part of a surreal year and a half.
鈥淎 lot of us have been through this for a long time now, playing in arenas with no fans, but it will be nice to have them, obviously,鈥� said Canadian coach Nurse.
鈥淐anadian fans are some of the best, as I know with being the Raptors coach. So we are certainly looking forward to hearing their voices in the arena.鈥�
Among them in the Memorial Centre will be Raptors Super Spectator Nav Bhatia of Toronto, the first fan ever inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
鈥淔ans are a big part of the game and I haven鈥檛 been able to be at one 鈥� until now in Victoria 鈥� for nearly 16 months [the Raptors played their NBA home games this season in Tampa, Florida, due to the closed sa国际传媒-U.S. border]. So, it鈥檚 amazing to be here supporting my country. We have a great national team and I strongly believe we are going to get to Tokyo.鈥�
The other semifinal is at 4 p.m. today and pits Greece (1-1) against a dangerous-looking Turkish team (2-0) featuring NBA players Cedi Osman of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Ersan Ilyasova of the Utah Jazz, Furkan Korkmaz of the Philadelphia 76ers and 18-year-old prodigy and projected 2021 first-round NBA draft pick Alperen Sengun.
Uruguay and China have been eliminated.
The championship final is Sunday at 4 p.m. with the winner taking the lone berth out of the qualifier to the Tokyo Olympics, which begin July 23.
