SAN JUAN

Jay Triano and Rick Pitino have different takes on what Canada’s strengths and weaknesses were during the Tuto Marchand Cup.

While Triano thought Canada’s offence came around a bit against Puerto Rico on Wednesday after looking less than pristine throughout the tournament, it was the defence that he thought stood out for his squad.

“I thought we were actually better. I don’t think we made the shots, but we were better,” Triano said.

“We had a lot of open looks and we base it on open looks. We talked to our guys before this tournament started that we need to do a good job of playing defence, whether we’re making shots or not, we have to be consistent with that. I think we were throughout this tournament and we kind of just (have to) parlay that into the same type of games in Mexico.”

Now, keep in mind Pitino, the veteran Louisville coach who is helming Puerto Rico’s team, would not have seen nearly as much of Canada as Triano, since assistants handle a lot of the scouting, but he had a completely different opinion.

And perhaps that’s not surprising, since he is a noted defensive taskmaster and tends to hone in on how teams defend.

“I think they are really talented. They’re really well-coached,” Pitino started.

“They can ISO you very well, take advantage of mismatches, but it all starts with defence, they’ve got to make their improvements defensively, certainly, but offensively they’re a really gifted basketball team. They shoot the three well, but all young teams are not as good as older teams defensively. Older teams are much smarter defensively than young teams.”

Canada will field one of the youngest lineups at Olympic qualifying in Mexico starting Tuesday, but other than against Puerto Rico (and the defence wasn’t bad against them either), Canada gave opponents fits at this tournament, making them shoot bad percentages and limiting their second chances by dominating the glass.

Canada also was stellar defensively the past two summers with lineups that still boasted a handful of younger players.

TOUGH LUCK

Host Puerto Rico had some brutal luck during the tournament.

First, star guard J.J. Barea missed games due to suspension before returning against Canada, leaving Pitino without his top backcourt (long-time star Carlos Arroyo declined to play).

Then former NBAer Renaldo Balkman, who always fares well in international play, got hurt and new Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless got injured as well, joining him on the sidelines.

Others fell and then big man Devon Collier, who had been playing well over the week, dislocated his kneecap early on against Canada.

Pitino was impressed by how determined his club was and how it stuck around until the fourth quarter despite all of the obstacles, which included playing shooting guards and small forwards at power forward and centre.

“I didn’t even play and I feel like I fought Joe Frazier,” a proud Pitino said post-game.

Pitino said Balkman will be fine for Mexico City, but the status of the other injured players remains up in the air.

CUT COMING

Triano said the team’s final cut will come before they fly to Mexico on Friday.

Young point guard Olivier Hanlan didn’t play in two of the four games in Puerto Rico and had just three minutes at the end of another, but don’t count the native of Aylmer, QC, out just yet.

With point guards like Jamal Murray and Kevin Pangos absent, there is a major need for another point guard and Triano has talked about wanting to make sure he has “insurance.”

Teams can get into trouble if fouls add up or if an injury happens.

Veteran forward Aaron Doornekamp also is on the bubble, along with Los Angeles Lakers centre Robert Sacre.

Already boasting a size advantage against its opponents and having dominated the boards even with Sacre only playing spot minutes, Triano might decide that he can most afford living without a true centre. Then again, with Kelly Olynyk already banged up (though he will play and start in Mexico), perhaps Doornekamp will be the odd man out.

Decisions, decisions.

AROUND THE RIM

Canada will need far better shooting from its guards (Phil Scrubb aside) in Mexico City. Cory Joseph and Nik Stauskas shot around 30%, the usually automatic Brady Heslip was only a bit better and even some of the big men (Andrew Nicholson, most notably) were way off for much of the time ... Heslip is sporting quite a gruesome look, though it’s not nearly as bad as it appears. Heslip, Canada’s backup shooting guard, took a thumb to the eye in a recent game and was nearly rested against Puerto Rico on Wednesday. The bloody eye led to Stauskas clowning his friend, who was looking a little zombie-like, on Twitter ... Canada had gone a combined 3-3 at the 2007 and 2009 editions of the Tuto Marchand Cup, before its dismal 0-3 and 0-4 performances in 2011 and 2013.