As the minutes wound down last night, and Steve Nash dribbled out of trouble, hit teammates with great passes and ran his team with aplomb, you knew Jay Triano was smiling to himself.

The Canadian coach had taken some hits for resting Nash in a 40-point blowout to the United States a night earlier in the FIBA-Americas Olympic qualification basketball tournament but his move had paid off,

Now Canada is a step closer to having a chance to qualify for the Athens Games. A well-rested Nash was at his best down the stretch as Canada defeated Brazil 101-97 in a thriller at Roberto Clemente Coliseum.

"We made a lot of mistakes and we didn't play our best but we showed a lot of toughness down the stretch" Nash said. "I don't know if we deserved to win by our play, but our hearts deserved to win.

"We learned a lot from the Argentina game (a four-point loss in the opening round) when we ended up losing down the stretch."

Nash made four straight free throws in the final two minutes and controlled the game as only he could as Canada ran its record to 3-2 and moved within one win of guaranteeing itself a spot in Saturday's semifinals.