Summer Olympics 2000 Barrett, Nash lead Canada past Angola

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Tuesday, September 19
Barrett, Nash lead Canada past Angola

SYDNEY, Australia -- Rowan Barrett doesn't want to know anything about the men's Olympic basketball tournament except that Canada is unbeaten and Spain is next on the schedule.

"I don't know the format purposely and when anyone starts talking about it, my ears are closed," Barrett said after scoring 21 points in Canada's 99-54 victory over Angola on Tuesday. "I'll just let things take care of themselves."

After Canada upset the host country in the opening game, suddenly the talk is of it being a medal contender, something the team felt coming in although few of those predicting the medalists agreed.

"Our team is focused on the process here and we're happy with that," said Barrett, who played at St. John's and now plays professionally in Venezuela. "As long as we stay focused on that, whether we're playing Australia, Angola or the U.S., it will stay the same."

There was no letdown against Angola (0-2) in Canada's first game since the 101-90 victory over Australia.

"I'm more relieved than glad," said Canada coach Jay Triano, who played on the country's last Olympic team in 1988. "This was one of those games you can only lose. We did what we had to do to win."

That meant getting off to a good start and Barrett was a big part of that, scoring 13 points as Canada took a 23-9 lead in the opening 7½ minutes and then stretched the lead to 50-29 at halftime.

Steve Nash of the Dallas Mavericks had nine points and five assists against Angola. He has 20 assists in Canada's two games.

"Steve and I have been playing together since we were 16, 17 years old so we've been together for a while and our games complement each other," said Barrett, 27. "He really makes it happen for us."

Canada shot 62 percent from the field (34-for-55) against Angola, including 9-for-19 from 3-point range.

Victor Carvalho led Angola with 10 points.

The talk of the medal round is now circulating around the Canadian team. Before the Olympics, it was only the Canadian players talking about it. No longer.

"We can't get caught up in that. We just have to play each game," Triano said. "This is always a crazy tournament. Things always happen."

Yugoslavia 80, Australia 66 --This is not the way it was supposed to be going for the Australian men's basketball team.

The crowds are big and supportive and Andrew Gaze is living up to his place as one of the best Olympic players ever.

The problem is that Australia is 0-2 and all that pre-Olympic talk of a silver medal has been tarnished.

"We need a win but we remain very, very positive," Gaze said. "If we win our last three games we can still finish second in our group and go on to bigger and better things. The game against Russia is very important for us."

Important is an understatement.

Since the United States started using NBA players in 1992, a priority in the Olympics is not to finish fourth in the opposite group from the U.S. team. That would mean a quarterfinal meeting with the United States and no chance to play for a medal.

"This is not the position we'd like to be in, but we have to remain positive for the next three games and in the right position for the crossover games," Australia coach Barry Barnes said.

Yugoslavia (2-0) was in control throughout a physical game that had three incidents where a fight seemed to be one more shove or word away.

"We knew Australia was 0-1 and they would be highly motivated," said Yugoslavia forward Dragan Tralac, who has signed with the Chicago Bulls. "We played good throughout and stayed with our focus."

That certainly wasn't the case for Australia, which lost its opener to Canada, 101-90. Gaze had 21 points and backcourtmate Shane Heal added 18, but it was the frontcourt that again came up short.

"We're trying to stay positive and the players are disappointed but that's understandable," Barnes said. "With that problem said, we have to get more from the big guys inside."

Dejan Bodiroga had 19 points for Yugoslavia and Predrag Danilovic, who played for the Miami Heat, added 16.

Yugoslavia had a 10-point lead within the first 8:40, extended it to 45-28 at halftime and stayed comfortably in front the entire second half.

The only cheering in the late stages from the crowd of 8,406 at The Dome was when Gaze, a five-time Olympian, hit some 3-pointers.

"The problems we have a lot of times are psychological problems," Gaze said. "The anxiety level, the desire to play well, the expectations, those things take a lot out of a team and take their toll. Being 0-2, we can play like we have nothing to lose but we have a whole hell of a lot to lose. We have to relax a little more, get in our rhythm and good things can happen."

China 75, New Zealand 60 -- Wang Zhizhi, at 7-foot-1 the middle-sized of the three players who make up the formidable "Great Wall," had 19 points, including seven in the 12-0 run that gave China 52-37 lead with 11 minutes to play.

New Zealand (0-2) opened the second half with a 7-0 run to get to 40-37. Then Wang sparked the decisive run, capping it with a three-point play on an authoritative drive to the basket.

Hu Weidong added 16 points for China (1-1), while 7-5 Yao Ming had eight points and eight rebounds.

Sean Marks, who played at California, and Mark Dickel, who plays at Nevada-Las Vegas, each had 13 points for New Zealand.

Russia 71, Spain 63 -- Sergei Tchialkine scored 23 points to lead Russia (1-1), which dominated the game inside. Alexander Bachminov's driving basket with 6:23 to play gave Russia the lead for good at 56-55 and were the first of six consecutive points inside.

Spain (1-1) close to 66-63, but Russia went 4-for-5 from the free throw line during the final 53 seconds, including 4-for-4 by Sergei Panov, his only points of the game.

Andrei Kirilenko had 16 points and nine rebounds for Russia, which finished with a 32-14 advantage in scoring in the paint and outrebounded Spain 38-26.

Alberto Herreros had 13 points for Spain. Starting guard Ignacio Rodriguez injured his right hand early in the second half and didn't play again. Rodriguez, who returned to the bench with a wrap on his hand, had three points and three rebounds.

Lithuania 81, France 63 -- Guintaras Einikis scored 19 points to lead Lithuania (1-1), which rebounced from a two-point opening loss to Italy. Lithuania shot 48 percent (27-for-56), forced 16 turnovers -- off which it scored 22 points -- and was never really threatened as it pulled away from a 54-43 halftime lead.

Saulius Stombergas added 13 points for Lithuania, the bronze medalists in the last two Olympics, and Tomas Masiulis added 12.

Antoine Rigaudeau had 13 points to lead France (1-1), which is making its Olympic debut in men's basketball but was just 1-for-7 from 3-point range. Frederic Weis, the New York Knicks' first-round draft choice in 1999, had eight points, five rebounds and three blocks.

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