51 Points: NAW and Dort Kept Canada at 8-0

Photo: NBA.com. Official Nickeil Alexander-Walker headshot.

Argentina had it at 40-23 with Dort on the bench in foul trouble, 95 seconds into the second quarter. You watched a Montreal kid's first three in Quebec City turn into a 17-point hole.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 26 and Luguentz Dort scored 25 as Canada beat Argentina 97-92 on Monday and stayed 8-0 in FIBA World Cup qualifying.

Videotron Centre. Attendance 12,380. Canada 23-25-25-24. Argentina 29-24-16-23. Dort opened the night with a three and Canada sat on 13-6. Then Argentina ran 13-1 in two minutes and 17 seconds. First quarter 29-23 visitors. Dort in foul trouble, the help on the wing gone, and Facundo Campazzo and Nicolás Laprovíttola hunted the empty closeout. Gordie Herbert's half decision was not to chase 17 in eight minutes. Cut it to single digits. Canada did: 53-48 at the break. That is a clock call. You live with the hole if the rest of the half gets you within a timeout.

The third quarter is the tape Atlanta should keep. Canada 25, Argentina 16, into a 73-69 lead. Dort had 10 of his 25 in that quarter. Olynyk's work under the basket was the physical tilt. Both sit on the same film. Olynyk played 21:41 and came away with 11 points and five steals. Five steals from a 21-minute four man is help arriving at the elbow, not a box-score accident. Mfiondu Kabengele went 14 and 11 in 19:24 on 5-of-7. Short-minute drop coverage. You do not need 32 minutes from the center if the glass is 11 boards in 19. Campazzo finished 0-of-7, 0-of-5 from three, three points in 28:20. That is the closeout changing after halftime. Dort, Alexander-Walker, and Marcus Carr on the perimeter, Olynyk showing, the next Campazzo possession dying at the nail instead of becoming a kick-out.

Action: FIBA Media. Luguentz Dort (0) vs Argentina, Videotron Centre, Aug. 31, 2026. 9504×6336 landscape.

The last 10 minutes were Alexander-Walker's. Thirty-five minutes, 8-of-17, 4-of-11 from three, 6-of-6 at the line, five assists, two steals, one block, six turnovers, 26 points. The cushion in the final minute was a three and two free throws. That is the create button without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the building. Canada dressed three NBA veterans: Dort, Alexander-Walker, Olynyk. RJ Barrett, Dillon Brooks, Andrew Nembhard, and SGA were elsewhere. Twenty-eight Canadians have already appeared in the first eight qualifier games, per Doug Smith in the Toronto Star. The last-minute possession still ran through the Most Improved Player, because when the game is 92-something and you need a shot that is not a designed Olynyk seal, you hand it to the guard who just logged 2,603 NBA minutes.

Dort's 25 was a different job. Twenty-seven minutes. 8-of-13, 4-of-4 inside, 4-of-9 from three, 5-of-6 at the line, two boards, two assists, two steals, zero turnovers, three fouls. First three of the night. Ten in the third. Fist up at the horn with the ball on his hip. He had not played a competitive game since the NBA playoffs and told reporters the legs came back later. Rust is the first five minutes. The 4-of-4 at the rim is the closer who does not need 18 isolation possessions. Combined they hit eight threes. Argentina hit 13, including Laprovíttola's 8-of-12, 31 points, which tied the Americas Qualifiers single-game three record (John Jenkins, Kassius Robertson). Canada still won the two-point night (19-of-32 against 15-of-27) and the line (26-of-31 against 23-of-31). Assists 23-19. You do not have to win the three-point column if the help rotations take Campazzo's night and the create button gets to the paint.

That pairing is the Hawks tape, not a friendship montage. Dort went from Oklahoma City to Atlanta on July 19 in a three-team deal, $17.7 million team option attached. Alexander-Walker is in year two of the four-year, $62 million sign-and-trade, $14,403,710 this season. Dyson Daniels is already in the building. Alexander-Walker played 33.4 minutes a night last season over 78 games. He moved into the starting group earlier with Trae's knee; the January trade to Washington locked the lead-guard job. The Quebec math is the minutes fight you are about to watch in camp: three two-way wings, last year's 33.4, and Dort now in the same room. Somebody's 33 becomes 28. The volume question is already in the air.

Monday argues the other way on the last possession. Dort's 25 was catch-and-shoot and a first-quarter spark. Alexander-Walker's 26 was 35 minutes as the lead guard, six turnovers included. Live with the six if the last minute is his. The foul-trouble warning is the other clip. When Dort sat, Argentina jumped 17. Atlanta has Daniels as the second stopper, so the empty closeout should not look like 40-23. If both sit together in a January game, it will. That is why the trade exists.

Canada is 8-0 in Group F, ranked fifth in the world. Argentina is 6-2 and ranked eighth. Next window is Uruguay on Nov. 26, then the rematch in Argentina three days later. February still has Uruguay and Panama at a Canadian site. Top three in each Americas group go to Qatar 2027, plus the best fourth. Monday left them one step away. One win in the last four is the remaining math. Either way the November decision already changed. You are not flying to Uruguay in a must-win. You are managing NBA camp bodies and keeping Dort out of a third foul in the first six minutes. Kabengele's 19 minutes of 14 and 11 is the paint insurance when the NBA wings sit a window. Carr's 14 and 8 in 28:50 is the second create button if Alexander-Walker is in Atlanta by then.

Dort's line after the game was high-school short. Same high school team. Played against him his whole life. Grateful when the Hawks call came. SGA is the cousin in the other locker. The chip in Oklahoma City is already on Dort's résumé, All-Defensive First Team on that same roster. Monday was not a reunion tour. It was 51 points from the two wings Atlanta is about to run out together, a 17-point hole that got cut on purpose, and an 8-0 that sends Canada toward Doha with four games left. Do not skip 40-23. That is the possession the Hawks cannot reprint.

Sources

• FIBA: Hawks connection Alexander-Walker, Dort leave Canada one step away from Qatar 2027
• FIBA box: Canada vs Argentina, Videotron Centre
• Global Sports Archive box: Canada 97, Argentina 92
• NBA.com: How NBA players performed at the 2027 FIBA World Cup qualifiers
• The Canadian Press via Globe and Mail: Unbeaten Canadian men’s basketball team wins 97-92 against Argentina
• Toronto Star (Doug Smith): Unbeaten Canada is one win away from a return to the FIBA World Cup — 28 players in the first eight games; one win in the last four
• NBA.com: Nickeil Alexander-Walker named 2025-26 Kia NBA Most Improved Player — 20.8 / 3.7 / 3.4 / 1.3, 2,603 minutes, 33.4 MPG over 78 games
• NBA.com: Thunder trade Lu Dort to Hawks in 3-team deal — July 19, $17.7 million option
• NBA.com player page: Nickeil Alexander-Walker — official 1040×760 headshot
• FIBA Media: CAN vs ARG Second Round gallery — https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-basketball-world-cup-2027-americas-qualifiers/photos — still https://assets.fiba.basketball/image/upload/v1788231169/c9fj6np3ktc0wkqok4pu.jpg (Dort #0, 9504×6336)