HAMILTON – There is no bigger basketball story in Hamilton than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder star is an NBA champion and sitting on consecutive MVP awards but still reps the working-class southern Ontario city he moved to as a middle schooler. 

He lives in the area in the off-season and still trains with a crew from his high school team. 

So Gilgeous-Alexander was the obvious headliner when he suited up for a pair of FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifying games at TD Coliseum, first on Friday (110-84 win over Puerto Rico) and again Monday night as the Canadian men took care of business against Jamaica with a 116-78 victory. 

The pair of wins improved the Canadians to 6-0 in the first round of qualifying as they won their group and put themselves in the driver’s seat as they vie to become one of seven countries from the Americas to advance to the World Cup in Qatar next summer. Once there, they will eye improving on their historic bronze medal from 2023. They plan to continue that trajectory when they open the second round of qualifying with a game in Quebec City on August 31st. 

Gilgeous-Alexander got the biggest cheer from a raucous crowd of 11,000 both nights during pre-game introductions. He then nearly brought the house down Monday night with a spectacular sequence late in the first quarter when he converted a steal into an emphatic dunk over an overmatched Jamaican defender and then dripped in a three moments later. Another three just before the horn gave Canada a 32-15 lead to start the second quarter. 

“It's amazing and special. I don't take those opportunities and moments for granted to be able to play in front of people that watched me grow up, essentially,” Gilgeous-Alexander said on Friday, before chipping in 16........

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