Canada eyes Olympic berth in FIBA semis The Canadian men's basketball team is 40 minutes away from doing something the program hasn't done in 15 years - qualify for the Summer Olympic Games. TSN's Josh Lewenberg sets up tonight's all-important semi-final match-up between Canada and Venezuela at the FIBA Americas (TSN4, 6:55pm et/3:55pm pt).

Josh Lewenberg TSN Raptors Reporter Follow|Archive

MEXICO CITY - There was not a single member of the media in San Juan to cover the 1999 Canadian men's basketball team, something head coach Jay Triano, a master motivator, used to fire up his squad before their biggest game.

"It's us against the world," he shouted to a locker room of players, which included Steve Nash and Rowan Barrett, ahead of their semi-final game against host Puerto Rico, a must-win.

With an Olympic berth on the line, Canada was victorious that night, earning a trip to Sydney the following summer. It was the fifth time that the Canadian men qualified for the Olympics in the last 50 years. They haven't been back since.

Times have changed and so has the outlook on Canada Basketball. Nash, the general manger, and Barrett, his assistant, are now running the front office instead of the pick and roll, their locker room is filled with up-and-coming NBA stars, and there are eight reporters following the team around at the FIBA Americas Championship in Mexico City.

With such a promising future, it hasn't been too difficult for Team Canada to put its uninspiring past in the rear-view mirror, but Triano - back at the helm after an eight-year hiatus - won't let them forget what they're playing for.

"It was the first thing we talked about when we started training camp," the head coach said. "They've been reminded of it on a daily basis. We have long-term goals, daily goals, weekly goals, goals within a game, goals within a possession. Our guys know exactly what's in front of them."

"We all understand the history of our program," said starting point guard Cory Joseph. "We haven't been [to the Olympics] in a long time. But we try not to put too much emphasis on that because it's a new group and you have to stay in the moment."

This is the moment they've been pining for. After nearly a month of preparation, an undefeated exhibition tournament and seven straight wins to earn top seed at the FIBA Americas, they are 40 minutes away from doing something the program hasn't done in 15 years: qualify for the Olympic Games.

"[There's] a little bit [of nerves] but we feel like we are well prepared," Joseph said roughly 29 hours before Friday's semi-final, a game that will determine whether Canada or Venezuela is headed to Rio next summer. "[We've] put the time and effort into it. We're happy to be here we're excited for the game. It's just about going out there and doing the things we talked about."

Joseph watched Wednesday's thriller between Mexico and Argentina from his hotel room with a couple of his teammates. The Toronto Raptors' guard insists he had no rooting interest in the game but, truth is, the Canadians should consider themselves fortunate for the result.

Argentina led by 15 points late in the third quarter and, assuming that score held up, Canada would be preparing to face host Mexico in a hostile environment for Olympic qualification. Instead, Mexico outscored the previously undefeated Argentines 36-11 in the fourth and pulled out the upset to force a three-way tie.

With point differential - the tiebreaker - on their side, Canada comes out of the round robin in first place, set to take on fourth-seeded Venezuela in the semis.

Venezuela, a dark horse entering the tournament, celebrated like they had won the whole thing after defeating Panama on Wednesday and clinching their spot in the semis. They just barely fought their way in, finishing with a record of 3-4.

The talent disparity between these two clubs is significant. Canada's team features eight NBA players, while Venezuela does not have one. The average age of the Venezuela roster is 29, equaling the age of Canada's oldest player (Aaron Doornekamp).

It played out as expected when the teams met in the preliminary round, with Canada beating the Venezuelans by 20, holding them to just 62 points on 31 per cent shooting. That said, while this match-up is certainly a more favourable one than Mexico or Argentina would have been, it may not be a cakewalk.

What Venezuela lacks in high-end talent, they try to make up for in physicality and toughness. Canada came out of that first meeting with at least a few bumps and bruises. Venezuela got whistled for three unsportsmanlike fouls in the opening half alone - one of them injuring Canadian forward Dwight Powell. Anthony Bennett got hit in the nether regions and Joseph was laid out with a bodycheck as he brought the ball up court.

After that game, centre Kelly Olynyk admitted it was a challenge to keep his cool, to stop himself from retaliating but, to their credit, Canada's young players have done an impressive job at keeping their composure throughout the tournament.

Some might call plays like those dirty - in fact, some have - but that's FIBA. You can expect teams like Venezuela to play hard, to do what they need to, and Canada is prepared to take their best shot.

"I think it's part of our focus," Triano said. "We've discussed that part of learning the international game is being able to walk away and not retaliate when something happens."

"They are a physical team but I don't think any of those fouls were [dirty]," Joseph added. "They were [not] trying to hurt us, I think they were trying to win the basketball game that's the nature of their team. They're physical."

"We're Canadian," the point guard stated with pride. "We're used to the hockey hit. It's nothing new. We're fine with it."

Canada won its seven games by an average margin of 26.3 points, which means nothing now that the tournament has reached this stage. It all comes down to one game. Still, if they can take anything away from their success over the past 10 days, it's the style of play they've been winning with.

Venezuela will do their best to slow the game down, but the young Canadians are at their best when they utilize their speed and athleticism to push the tempo, run the floor and tire the opposition out early.

"They probably want to turn this into a wrestling match," Triano said. "We've got to make sure we move the ball and play with pace."

"No chance of overconfidence at all. It's 40 minutes of basketball. We know that anything can happen. Our focus the whole time hasn't been on outcome or scores or winning margin or anything. It's been on one possession at a time and really focusing at the defensive end."