Luka Doncic Calls Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 'One of the Best Players in the World'
Team Canada versus Team Slovenia was a battle of the stars, and it lived up to the hype. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned he wasn’t concerned with the individual matchup between he and Luka Doncic — but the Thunder star ended up winning both battles. SGA led Team Canada to a win, and got the best of Doncic who was ejected after a second technical in the fourth quarter.
Doncic was all class after the game, though, recognizing the talented player Gilgeous-Alexander truly is giving Canada his respect.
"Congratulations to Canada, they played great,” Doncic said. “They have one of the best players in the world and it was really tough to guard him."
It appeared like Slovenia did, in fact, have a tough time guarding Gilgeous-Alexander, who dropped a game-high 31 points on 8-of-12 shooting. The superstar added 10 rebounds, and four assists, while going 14-of-16 from the line. It was a near-perfect game for SGA, who got anything he wanted offensively.
Canada advanced to the semifinals, and will now play Serbia. The other semifinal matchup will feature the United States vs. Germany — which could lead to a USA vs. Canada championship game.
“It’s an honor,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Canada’s first World Cup semifinal berth was clinched. “It’s an honor in itself. But we’re not satisfied.”
Doncic still had a good game before the ejection came late. He totaled 25 points, five assists and four rebounds on 8-of-20 shooting in a hard fought battle. Both technicals were received talking to the officials, as Slovenia as a whole disagreed with a handful of foul calls — or no calls.
The games just keep getting bigger for Gilgeous-Alexaner and Team Canada with each passing round. SGA is establishing himself as one of the best players in the NBA, and like Doncic said, in the world.
"We play together, we play fast, we play tough, we're pretty hard to beat," Gilgeous-Alexander said to Sportsnet's Arash Madani after Wednesday's win. "We've just gotta keep imposing our will, imposing our identity on teams for 40 minutes and we'll be alright."
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