Basketball World Cup – second_round_groups – Day 2
Spain
Canada
“I don’t play to be a good basketball player. “I play to be one of the best in history.” The statement of intent corresponds to one of the stars of the NBA and this World Cup. Shooting guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Canada after a brilliant season as the Oklahoma Thunder’s game manager. Neither in his team nor in the selection are there any doubts about the prominence of this 25-year-old, 1.98 m tall young man, who is a physical prodigy (inherited from his mother, a Barcelona 92 Olympian for Antigua and Barbuda). 400m) and a constant shooter. SGA, as it is known by its acronym, is the North American team’s all-time leader in average points (22.3; sixth-highest scorer in the championship), rebounds (7.8) and assists (4.3). A three-pointer that speaks to Shai Gilgeous’s omnipresence on the court and his ability to do anything. He passes like a point guard, shoots like a small forward and rebounds like a center. This Sunday (3:30 p.m., La1) a difficult to tame whirlwind awaits Spain on their way to the quarter-finals.
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The same FIBA places the Toronto-born player in second place in the World Cup MVP rankings, surpassed only by Slovenia’s Luka Doncic and ahead of American Anthony Edwards. His coach Jordi Fernández gives in to the commitment of his best player. “He’s a superstar and at the same time a very coachable person who comes, works and is very professional, not only in the game but also in the physical care and the complete preparation.” And he is a good leader. He is a role model for many players, especially the younger ones. As the best on the team, he is the focus of others. Everyone thinks about points, but against France he led the team in rebounds [13], with six assists and just one turnover. This is very important. This means that he is not only a player who influences the game by scoring points, but also by defending and making his teammates better,” explains the Catalan coach.
The ball goes to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Canada’s undisputed lighthouse after the last-minute defeat of forward Jamal Murray, who was eliminated from the World Cup after a long season in the NBA, crowned with the ring with the Denver Nuggets. The SGA’s figure also shone in the American League this season for the first time with a place in the All Star as a reserve for the West. He was selected by the Hornets in 2018, traded to the Clippers and a year later to Oklahoma. There he scored the best points of his career this season with 31.4 points per night, making him the franchise’s leading scorer. He also brought 4.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists to the basket.
He is also a life insurance policy when it comes to free throws, with a 90.5% success rate in American competition, and the player who made the most one-point shots in the entire NBA during the season, 669, ahead of Embiid, Trae Young and Tatum and Doncic. SGA is a pitching machine. No one in the league shot from two-point range more than him last year, 1,213 times, and only Embiid and Antetokounmpo had more success. Reference numbers that are transferred to the checking account for a contract worth 148 million dollars for four courses.
Young Shai grew up watching José Manuel Calderón from the stands with the Toronto Raptors. Today he is the brains of Canada, an intelligent reader of spaces and a producer of baskets. The points fall out of your hands. He scored 42 goals against the Rockets in February and opened that World Cup with a 27, 13-rebound performance that stunned France. SGA is exactly the player Spain is missing, a superstar who moves the team but is capable of deciding a game.
Classification of the second phase groups.
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