Bumping his defender off him, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went with his signature baseline fadeaway jumper. As the mid-range bucket drilled in, the two-time MVP fell near his logo at TD Coliseum. Doesn’t get more epic than that back in his hometown.
Canada cruised to a 110-84 win over Puerto Rico in its 2026 FIBA World Cup qualifier. Considering how stacked the former’s squad is with NBA talent, it shouldn’t be a shocker to see it eventually clinch a spot in next summer’s World Cup event.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting, four assists and three rebounds. He shot 1-of-4 from 3 and went 7-of-8 on free throws. He also had two steals and two blocks.
Even with plenty of NBA talent sidelined, Gilgeous-Alexander showed out on the basketball court that was recently dedicated to him in its design. The 27-year-old went on a scoring frenzy in the beginning stages by knocking down one pull-up mid-range jumper after another — the move is his bread and butter, after all.
Canada had a 31-16 lead after the first quarter. Ballooning it to over 20 points, the heavy favorite got a little complacent. A lazy inbounds turnover allowed Puerto Rico to knock down an outside jumper. The 3-pointer became its friend as it made things somewhat interesting.
That said, Canada still entered halftime with a cushy 56-38 lead over Puerto Rico. Gilgeous-Alexander sat at 12 points and two assists. He was more in a bus-driver role. Considering the talent gap, they didn’t need him to go off to ensure a win.
The second half was much of the same story. Canada kept its lead hovering around 20 points. Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t really need to sweat it out. Even the thought of him taking a jumper had Puerto Rico paranoid. Amazing how he’s able to get similar free-throw numbers at both the NBA and FIBA level — despite different officials and rules. Almost as if he actually gets fouled.
I digress. Canada continued to run laps on Puerto Rico. It had an 83-60 lead after the third quarter. With the game in hand, Gilgeous-Alexander got into highlight scoring mode. Relentless drives to the basket puffed up his scoring numbers. Sure, there were a couple of moments where Puerto Rico cut things to the teens, but each time that happened, a Canadian timeout ensued to get the ship back on track.
After going up for a rim contest, Gilgeous-Alexander closed things out by bumping his way through two Puerto Rico defenders for a blue-collar layup. In the fourth quarter of a blowout game. That was enough to close up shop for the night. Some folks just love to hoop. He fits in that category.
Pretty ho-hum start for Gilgeous-Alexander and Canada. The 27-year-old has a long-enough receipt to show his scoring game translates over to the international level pretty seamlessly. And in this glorified warmup, that trend continued. Going to be interesting just how many more of their qualifiers he’ll play.
Next up for Canada in the 2026 FIBA World Cup qualifier is hosting Jamaica in the same gym on Monday, July 6.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: 2026 FIBA World Cup qualifier: SGA leads Canada to 110-84 win over Puerto Rico
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