Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA MVP, is playing his cousin Nickeil Alexander-Walker in the NBA Western Conference Finals The cousins grew up together in Hamilton, Ontario Shai and Nickeil once shared a room together for two years in high school while teammates at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy For Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, playing in the Western Conference Finals is about more than being one step away from the NBA Finals. It's a family affair, too. The Oklahoma City Thunder star, 26, has spent almost half of the penultimate series going up against his first cousin, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker. "He got the better of me sometimes, I got the better of him," Gilgeous-Alexander toldThe Oklahomanafter Monday night's Game 4, in which the Thunder won, 128-126. "Stuff we've dreamt about for our whole lives, and it's crazy that it's come to fruition." The cousins were born two months apart and grew up together in Hamilton, Ontario, just outside of Toronto. Later, they lived in the same room together at a coach's house during their junior and senior years of high school, when they both moved to Chattanooga, Tenn., and were teammates at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy. Shai has gone on to become a star guard with the Thunder and was named this year's league MVP, while Nickeil has been carving out a name for himself in Minnesota, rising as a crucial role player this season and often tasked with guarding his cousin, who has become known around the league simply as "SGA." "It's hard to even explain," Gilgeous-Alexandertoldreporters before the series began. "If you know how close we are. He's like my second brother. We've been through every stage of life together." David Berding/Getty While Gilgeous-Alexander called the opportunity to play his cousin "very special," he also vowed to hold nothing back with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line. "I'm gonna try to take his head off for sure," he said. Whoever wins the series (Oklahoma City is currently leading Minnesota 3-1), the cousins already know it's a once-in-a-lifetime type of opportunity to play one another on the NBA's biggest stage. "When it's all said and done, we'll definitely have plenty of stories about it," Shai toldThe Oklahomanafter his team's win Monday. Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. David Sherman/NBAE via Getty "I'm just so proud of both of them," Vaughn Alexander, Shai's dad and Nickeil's uncle, told the newspaper after watching the cousins go one-on-one against each other down the stretch Monday night. According toThe Oklahoman, Vaughn was watching the game alongside his sister Nicole, who is Nickeil's mom and Shai's aunt. "It feels like you've got to wake up and pinch yourself to make sure the dream's not gonna be over," Shai's father said. "But when you put so much hard work in, you know it's not a dream." Read the original article onPeople
