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FIBA: Canada targets Olympic success after first World Cup bronze

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Canadian basketball team celebrates after winning bronze at the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Pasay City on September 10, 2023. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/sports/09/10/20230910-fiba-canada-third-place5540.jpg"/><figcaption>Canadian basketball team celebrates after winning bronze at the 2023 FIBA World Cup in Pasay City on September 10, 2023. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA -- Small forward Dillon Brooks said Canada would take &quot;good momentum&quot; into next year&#x27;s Paris Olympics after beating the United States to win bronze at the FIBA World Cup on Sunday.Canada won 127-118 in overtime in Manila to claim their first World Cup podium finish, denying the United States a medal for a second straight tournament.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/09/10/23/fiba-canada-captures-bronze-outlasts-team-usa-in-ot">FIBA: Canada captures bronze, outlasts Team USA in OT</a></li></ul>Canada had already qualified for their first Olympics since 2000 by finishing as one of the two highest-placed teams from the Americas at the World Cup.Brooks, who finished the game as Canada&#x27;s top scorer with 39 points, said the medal would fuel their ambitions when the new NBA season starts next month.&quot;It&#x27;s good momentum for us, we&#x27;ll hold on to that throughout the season,&quot; he said.&quot;I&#x27;m going to see a lot of my team-mates during the season.&quot;Guys that weren&#x27;t here, that&#x27;s motivating to them as well, to want to join us, to get better, to make a run at the Olympics.&quot;Canada led for most of the game and built double-digit leads in both the first and third quarters.They looked to have the game won until the United States&#x27; Mikal Bridges hit a game-tying three-pointer with 0.2sec remaining.Canada quickly took control in overtime, with Brooks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in imperious form.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/multimedia/photo/09/10/23/canada-wins-bronze-in-fiba-world-cup">Canada seals historic podium finish in FIBA World Cup</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/09/08/23/serbia-takes-down-canada-to-enter-world-cup-finals">FIBA: Serbia takes down Canada to enter World Cup Finals</a></li></ul>&quot;This team was amazing, special, it&#x27;s the beginning of something that&#x27;s going to last for a long time,&quot; said head coach Jordi Fernandez.&quot;All 12 guys came in and worked every day since August 1, they got at least 1 percent better every day.&quot;They built the identity that we just showed.&quot;Fernandez said Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 31 points, was &quot;to me the MVP of this World Cup&quot;.Bridges called Canada&#x27;s point guard a &quot;slithery&quot; player to defend.&quot;He knows how to get away from you,&quot; Bridges said of Gilgeous-Alexander.&quot;He&#x27;s an unbelievable player.&quot;Fernandez paid tribute to Brooks&#x27;s leadership after the Houston Rockets player helped keep the United States&#x27; stars quiet while scoring points at the other end.Brooks was booed by the Manila crowd earlier in the tournament but they serenaded him with chants of &quot;MVP&quot; against the United States.Brooks said he was determined to help the team win after losing in the semi-finals to Serbia.&quot;Having that edge every single game, how I prepared for the game, how I was trying to be a leader out there for my team-mates, I&#x27;ve got to bring this back to Houston,&quot; he said.© Agence France-Presse<div>For more stories on the FIBA World Cup, click <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/fibaworldcup2023" target="_blank">here</a>.</div><div>RELATED VIDEO</div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DuD6tWfNNiI?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Dillon Brooks said Canada would take 'good momentum' into next year's Paris Olympics after beating the United States to win bronze at the World Cup.