After his 48-point card against Argentina, for his great Olympic debut, Luka Doncic was more sober in the large victory of Slovenia against Japan (116-81). It must be said that the Mavs superstar was not only more spared by his coach but he also suffered from three faults which kept him on the bench for a good part of the match.
Nonetheless, the prodigy of Ljubljana still finished at 25 points, plus 7 rebounds and 7 assists, perfectly supported by Zoran Dragic (24 points in 25 minutes) and Vlatko Cancar (16 points at 5/5 on shots). With this second success in as many games, Slovenia have already qualified for the quarter-finals, before playing their third and last group match against Spain on Sunday.
Luka Doncic still unbeaten with Slovenia
Against Japan, the Slovenian troops widened the gap from the second quarter. Faced with a Luka Doncic at 13 points in the first quarter, Rui Hachimura has multiplied with a good performance to 34 points, 7 rebounds, and even a passage in defense on the star of the Mavericks. But his team could not keep up with the frenzied pace dictated by Slovenians who are still just as attacking, and also adepts of fast play. Yuta Watanabe (17 points, 7 rebounds) was also faithful to the meeting but it is in the “supporting cast” that things necessarily get stuck on the Japanese side …
At +12 at halftime, Slovenia then unrolled its basketball, relying on its substitutes while Luka Doncic was resting quietly on the bench … We say “quietly”, but the latter still managed to take a technical fault (a second in this tournament) by bumping into the referees because of a non-whistled contact on one of his teammates who was leaving for the layup… For the record, Luka Doncic remains undefeated in the seniors with Slovenia: 15 matches, 15 victories since 2017!
Japan will have one final match to play, to save the honor, against Argentina. It’s not win…
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