The surprising defeat of Slovenia this Wednesday at the hands of Poland (87-90) has left out of the Eurobasket 2022 to the reigning champion Luka Doncicwhich thus joins the early goodbye of the other two great NBA stars present at the tournament, the Serbian Nikola Jokic and the greek Giannis Antetokounmpo. Serbia was eliminated by Italy (86-94) in the round of 16 while Greece fell to Germany (107-96) already in the quarterfinals.
The three teams were the most serious candidates for the podium and their three stars, the undisputed favorites to win the MVP of the tournamentwho is orphaned by the trio of players that exerts the greatest magnetism among fans.
Doncic leaves after having an irregular championship, in which he has combined authentic exhibitions (47 points against Francethe 36 against Germany or the 35 against Belgium) with discrete matches, especially the last one against Poland. “I have disappointed my country, the fault is mine”, said the player of the Dallas Mavericks after the huge disappointment of elimination. Doncic came close to the triple-double in his last game (14 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists) but he failed a lot in attack (5/15 from the field and 1/4 from the free throw line) and was disastrous in the last quarter. Doncic is honored to take responsibility for the setback, especially by not hiding behind the back injury that occurred at the beginning of the meeting and that made him receive a injection in the third quarter to alleviate pain.
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Just as disappointing have been the premature eliminations of Nikola Jokic’s Serbia and Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Greece. The team of Svetislav Pesic he came into the knockout rounds as the main contender for gold after consistent displays in the first phase matches. However, at the moment of truth, he allowed himself to be overcome by an Italy that played the last fifteen minutes without his coach, Gianmarco Pozzecodisqualified after receiving two techniques. Jokic He tried everything (32 points, 13 rebounds and a PIR of 41) but his team was not on his side. The double NBA MVP leaves the Eurobasket with his head held high on an individual level as he has averaged 21.7 points, 10 rebounds, 4.3 assists and a PIR of 31.7.
Something similar has happened with Giannis Antetokounmpoimpeccable in his final statistics of the tournament (29.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 4.7 assists and a PIR of 32.7) but who leaves with an accentuated feeling of failure since much more was expected from Greece. the player of the Milwaukee Bucks He has played a very average championship (he has not dropped below 25 points or 30 in PIR) but he has not been able to lead his team to collective success on his own.
With Doncic, Jokic and Antetokounmpo out of action, the MVP of this Eurobasket 2022 is more open than ever. At a statistical level, the best placed ‘survivors’ are the German Dennis Schroeder (20.2 points, 7.2 assists and a PIR of 16.8), the Spaniard Willy Hernangomez (17.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and a PIR of 21.3), the French Rudy Gobert (14.7 points, 10.9 rebounds and a PIR of 19.9) and the Polish Mateusz Ponitka (15 points, 6.4 rebounds, 6.9 assists and a PIR of 20.3), although everything will depend on which team wins the gold and if another player with a good track record in the tournament shines in the final.
