Canada's shift from outsiders to title contenders at the Basketball World Cup has been the product of several factors, including a healthy dose of star power.
(2023 Getty Images)
As the minutes passed following Canada’s quarter-final victory over a Luka Doncic-led Slovenia at FIBA World Cup 2023, there was one name making the headlines.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
And it was, with plenty of good reason, that the 25-year-old Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC) guard was receiving the plaudits.
For the second consecutive game, the Canadian posted a 30-point performance, finishing the night with 31 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Doncic, widely considered to be the best player at the tournament, even added his own praise of Gilgeous-Alexander in the post-match: “They have one of the best players in the world,” the Slovenian said of ‘SGA’. “It was really tough to guard him.”
Coming into the tournament hot off an NBA season where he earned his first All-Star nod and a First Team All-NBA selection, the expectations were that Gilgeous-Alexander would be important to the Canadian cause.
But no one quite expected that the young guard, making his debut on the world stage at the tournament in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, would make the transition from the NBA to FIBA so seamlessly.
In the six games he has played so far, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 25.0 points, 5.0 assists, 7.2 rebounds and 1.7 steals, putting him in the top echelon of performers at the World Cup.
Among those recognising the way the Canadian has so masterfully adapted is head coach Jordi Fernandez, who pointed to his player as one of the best examples of someone from the transition:
“Shai, he's a smart kid,” Fernandez said. “I know everybody thinks about his scoring, but then you see the times he gets to the free-throw line, the rebounds that he gets. So it's not just him scoring a lot of points it's his assist-turnover ratio, his rebounding, and his defence.
“He’s been amazing to work with,” the coach continued. “He's a superstar and obviously, in my opinion, is the MVP of this tournament.”
Gilegous-Alexander may be the X-factor in Team Canada’s roster but his impact isn’t the only thing that is making the team stand out in an otherwise crowded room.
With seven NBA players from six different franchises, as well as the recent introduction of Spanish coach Fernandez this year, meshing the team together in time to meet the demands of the World Cup was labelled an absolute priority ahead of proceedings.
“We knew and we said from the beginning that one of our main priorities was to build relationships; me included,” Fernandez said.
“Everybody’s made the effort to do so. We spent a lot of days together and even though we’re a young group, we’re a group that stays together and fights together.
“If you know the games we’ve played so far, you see the competitiveness and that’s the product of all our days and our willingness to get to know each other.”
Echoing Fernandez, OKC’s Lu Dort similarly agreed that the connectedness between the team is giving Canada a special something, particularly as the tournament’s latter stages approach.
“We knew that we were going to be together for a short time so any time we can find some time to be together and play cards or play video games or whatever, that’s something we’ve been doing. And I feel like it kind of relates now on the court. How we have been playing so well and how we are so happy for each other when we have success.”
Team Canada’s unity will face its greatest test in tomorrow’s World Cup semi-final where it will face European powerhouse, Serbia under the lights in Manila.
Though they are without NBA Champion Nikola Jokic, the Serbians have been impressive with Bogdan Bogdanovic standing up in the Denver Nugget’s man’s absence.
The 31-year-old Atlanta Hawks star entered elite company in Serbia’s quarter-final win over Lithuania, becoming one of a handful of players to score 400+ points at a World Cup.
The task before them won’t be an easy one but this special Canadian group is locked in on its goals and delivering them for a proud nation watching on.
“It means a lot to everybody back home in Canada," Fernandez on what the World Cup means to his team.
"Not just the people that follow and like basketball on a day-to-day basis. It's for everybody else. We're playing for everybody in Canada."