Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Leads Canada to 30-Point Win vs France at FIBA WC

It’s day 1 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, and we already have a highly-anticipated fixture on the card as two of the strong favour will lock horns in just a few hours.

After a scoreless first, it was all Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in this one. The native of Hamilton, Ontario came alive as the first half came to a close and finished the game with 27 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. 

Preview:

With Lebanon and Latvia being the other two teams in Group H, given their strength, France and Canada will be the two teams to progress to the second round, barring a major upset. And with runner-up to face defending champions Spain (most likely) in the second round, both sides would do everything to finish first in their group to avoid that.

Mentioning that today’s game will be paramount as the loser must work hard to make its mega-event journey longer.

Canada:

From finishing 21st four years ago to entering the next edition as heavy favorites, the Canada team has come a long way in recent years. With arguably the most talented and balanced roster in their history, expectations are similarly high.

It’s important to mention that Canada has to secure a top-two finish amongst the Americas to book their slot in next summer’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games, making today’s game more meaningful.

Recently, the Canadian team has been anything but consistent; however, led by one of the top young NBA players, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this young team has the best chance to go far this time, with speed from two of the best point guards in the world.

Talking about the roster, with active NBA talents like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Kelly Olynyk, and Dwight Powell in the log, it’s safe to say that this Canadian side is loaded with NBA talent.

In their run to the mega event, the Canada team performed well, with gutsy overtime wins over defending champion Spain and against the heavyweight Germany. Overall, in the qualifiers, they were the best team in North America, with 11 wins in 12 games.

Talking about the game vs France, the Canadian side can adopt and throw out multiple offensive and defensive looks and will have to take full advantage of it against France, a team against which they’ve never won in an official game, losing in 2010, 2011, and 2016.

Without the services of Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is seen as their number-one scoring option, but New York Knicks wing RJ Barrett, who averaged 19.6 points in the NBA last season, is expected to be a scoring hero in this tournament.

Olynyk helped his side on several occasions on the road to the World Cup and will be crucial once again due to his capability to slide between the four and five spots. Brooks is a scrappy and defensive player who always finds a way to make his presence known.

Canada Starting lineup:

Dwight Powell – Kely Olynyk – Zach Edey – Luguentz Dort – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

France:

Currently ranked no. 2, the International Basketball powerhouse has already secured a spot in the Olympics as the host country. With progressing to the two semi-finals in the previous two editions (bronze in 2019), silver at the Tokyo Olympic Games, and final in the Euro 2022, France is the side with consistently good performance over the last decade.

With consecutive wins over defending champions Spain, Germany, and New Zealand, France is coming to the tournament in good shape despite losing their final test before the tournament, 74-78 vs. Australia.

One of the main factors that make this French side dangerous is their excellent scoring form, as, in 4 of their last six warmup games, they’ve scored at least 84 points.

Talking about their goal-scoring form, France has not only won all three official games against Canada but has scored at least 84 points in each game as well.

Looking at their World Cup roster, we see talented players like three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert, Clippers forward Nicolas Batum, and EuroLeague star Nando De Colo, the same players who helped their Nation to win Bronze four years ago in China.

Although Even Fournier was glued to the bench, the New York Knicks player has given several historical performances in FIBA competitions and would give his everything to make this edition memorable.

Another talented player in the roster is Nicolas Batum, who, with Even Fournier as the pair, is two of the three players to ever score more than 200 points for France in World Cups.

25-year-old Sylvain Francisco, who plays for Bayern Munich, averaged 12.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.5 steals last season for the Greek Basket League.

France Starting lineup:

Rudy Gobert, Nicolas Batum, Guerschon Yabusele, Evan Fournier & Nando de Colo

Canada vs France live score