MEXICO CITY —

It isn’t easy for a team to come together in a short period of time, but Canada has been able to become a close-knit group that enjoys being around each other quite quickly.

After the second round of the FIBA Americas tournament wrapped up on Wednesday, Anthony Bennett and Jay Triano were asked about why that has been the case.

“It’s a great group of guys, every day (it’s) just fun to be around, just learning different personalities,” Bennett said.

“West Coast, East Coast, different teams, overseas, here, it’s a good feeling. Everybody comes in, kind of knows everybody from the past and everybody comes and we click. I can say it’s pretty much a family.”

Triano stuck with that theme.

“I think that they’ve decided to believe in each other,” Triano said. “They’re a little bit of a family right now. There’s joking that goes on between them, there’s good times, there’s ribbing that happens, but they know when they step on the court they have each other’s back. For a young team, we’ve done a pretty good job so far of building that.”

Part of the reason for the quick camaraderie is because every player has been focused on the collective goal of making the Olympics.

Only three players have averaged 20 or more minutes a game (Nik Stauskas, Andrew Wiggins and Cory Joseph) and everyone but Dwight Powell has averaged at least 10 minutes a night (Powell is averaging 9:49 of playing time.

“The biggest thing is this team is willing to sacrifice,” Triano said. “These guys are willing to do what it takes to win a game. They put their personal agendas aside, it’s all been about the team, they’ve bought into that and we have to make sure that’s the case the next 48 hours.”

COME TOGETHER

Bennett has seen a big difference in Canada’s familiarity on the court as the summer has gone on. They were pretty potent in Puerto Rico a couple of weeks ago, but are now decimating opponents on offence.

Per NBA.com’s John Schuhmann, Canada was scoring 124.9 points per 100 possessions, to lead the tournament by a wide margin. For the sake of comparison, the Los Angeles Clippers led the NBA in offensive rating at 109.8. Second-best Argentina was only producing 111.7 points per 100 possessions before Wednesday’s games.

“I’d say we’re a lot more comfortable, we know guy’s tendencies, it doesn’t matter who is in the game, what they like to do and what they don’t like to do,” Bennett said.

Fellow starting big man Kelly Olynyk isn’t surprised by how good Canada has looked.

“I definitely thought this is where we could and should be,” Olynyk said. “We came here with one goal in mind and we have an opportunity to accomplish that goal. That’s what we’re setting up to do.

“We’re really clicking on the offensive end, guys are really moving the ball, guys are finding their opportunities to strike and they’re striking.”

VENEZUELA IN

Venezuela punched its ticket to the semifinals earlier Wednesday by beating Panama 75-62.

The team went just 3-4, the same as Puerto Rico, but had the tie-breaker thanks to an earlier win over Puerto Rico.

The team, coaching staff and Venezuelan media celebrated as if they had won the whole tournament instead of a date with the first-place team.

But in one-off games, anything can happen.

Puerto Rico beat Uruguay 80-69 to take fifth place which also comes with an invite to a last-chance Olympic qualifying tournament next summer. The third and fourth-place teams also make the tournament.

NOT ANSWERING

Joseph didn’t want to give an answer when asked if he had a preference for the semifinals between Argentina or Mexico.

“No, I don’t. I don’t really care who we play as long as we obviously get the (win),” Joseph said. “I’m not the guy to ask for that one. That’s more coach. I don’t even know this tournament, with Venezuela (being a possibility) and stuff. I don’t get into that. I just try to come and play every day, because of point spread and all of that stuff. I don’t know how that goes.”

AROUND THE RIM

Fans aren’t the only ones who enjoy seeing Wiggins soar to the rafters for spectacular dunks, as he has done many times over the course of this tournament.

“Oh yeah. We all love when Wiggs throws down like that,” Stauskas said earlier this week, after a particularly jaw-dropping Wiggins jam. “That’s why we love getting out in transition, because we have a lot of guys who can run and jump. Those kinds of play just get us amped up” ... “Congratulations to Canada, obviously a very talented team. We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game,” said Dominican Republic coach Kenny Atkinson after losing to Canada on Wednesday.