The German selection is still undefeated at the high quality of the basketball European Championship. Slovenia, on the other hand, trusts his eccentric superstar, in which madness is never far away. In the quarter -finals there is now an unequal duel.
Success is based in sports, fundamentally, on three pillars: talent, training and will/discipline. In the top area there are primarily athletes in which all three requirements are particularly pronounced. A few are enough to couple their talent with high training tenses, some achieved top performance thanks to the talent and great willpower. And most popular with fans are those who have a lot of training and iron will to succeed, so their achievements work out. At least two of the three components must be given. Unless you are Luka Doncic.
No sports star of our time has come so far in his career without having developed the skills that have been cradled so little. The Slovenian was already a basketball wonder child at the age of twelve. And even today you can see your extraordinary skills and playful lightness away from competitions when he shouts balls from crazy distances in the basket. Sometimes one -handed, sometimes both hands, whether in the high arc up to the roof of the training hall or directly through the ring. Doncic’s talent is unique and has made him a superstar, but as with genius so often the case, the madness is not far away.
Doncic is currently in Riga at the European Championship with Slovenia. The supposedly innocent sentence is quite daring. The national team is actually on the move. On Wednesday evening (8 p.m., live at Magentasport and RTL) he meets Germany in the quarterfinals, and because basketball is a team sport according to regulations, the superstar of the Los Angeles Lakers will again get four extras as a teammate in the seventh tournament game. Sounds exaggerated? Let’s look at the numbers of the latest Doncic dominance.
In the round of 16 on Sunday against Italy it was 29:11 for Slovenia after the first quarter, and with his 22 points, the 26-year-old sole entertainer not only achieved twice as many points as the entire opposing team, but also more than all other players in the field, Slovenes and Italians.
After the first half (50:40) it was 30, at the end 42, which ultimately meant half the battle at 84:77. Doncic is – not surprising – the outstanding superstar of this European Championship. He scored 204 points in the six games so far. And the gap to the second best shooter of this European Championship says a lot: Finland’s Lauri Markkanen comes to just 156 points.
Germany has many weapons, Slovenia one
Slovenian basketball is a one-man show and therefore the complete opposite of the German delegation. The unbeaten DBB selection not only has two outstanding actors with the two NBA players Franz Wagner (Orlando Magic) and Dennis Schröder (Sacramento Kings), but also impresses with its quality. While Doncic is on average 33.4 of the 40 minutes per game on the field, Schröder comes to 27.3 minutes, Wagner was able to spare even longer, an average of 23.5 minutes in the tournament.
“We need the perfect game against the Germans to beat them,” he said before the quarter -finals, probably meant himself and added a little jealous with a view to the opposing squad: “They play incredible. Wagner is the main actor, the engine, but they have so many weapons.”
Up to deep into the squad, national coach Alex Mumbru, who shares the chief role due to his illness with his assistant Alan Ibrahimagic, can fall back on almost equivalent alternatives depending on the game situation and opponents and without frictional losses.
It was well observed in the round of 16 against Portugal. When Wagner, Schröder, Andreas Obst and the other German shooters did not want the ball through the Nylon, the German coaches relied on Maodo Lo, who naturally decided the game from the bank and threw out a custody victory. Germany has an extraordinary team, Slovenia a unique man.
It is the unequal orientation and philosophy that makes this quarter -finals so interesting. Added to this is the use that is at stake. A victory would be synonymous with the clear favorite role on the title. After the departure of Serbia and France, the duel with the Slovenes looks like an anticipated final. Without underestimating the Giannis with Giannis Antetocounmpo and Alperen Sengüns Turks, the highest hurdle remaining in the tournament would have been skipped.
The indictment: too lazy, too fat, too full
Because even if Doncic has only gathered as a player with the Dallas Mavericks and the Lakers as a five-time all-star during his seven NBA years, the son of a Yugoslav basketball professional has already been able to add team success of his vita. He was three times a teenager with Real Madrid Spanish champion, twice the cup winner, in 2018 he won the Euroleague. A year earlier he had surprisingly become European champions with Slovenia.
The fact that, despite its abilities, no more than an NBA final participation with Dallas 2024 jumped out at team level in the past few years is actually not reasonable for his extraordinary potential, but for many observers by no means surprising.
The list of its misconduct and failure is too long. The indictment: too lazy, too fat, too full. Doncic deliberately wastes his talent, has no discipline, is chronically unpunctual and with his appearance a bad role model for the team. He has no leadership qualities and will therefore no longer get beyond the current status of the spectacular magician.
There are numerous stories and anecdotes about his trucks. And if you listen to your sharpest critics, you might think that he would like to only play cigarettes smoking and drinking cards in bathing flaps. In fact, he actively shaped this picture of the Lebemann. Weight problems and lack of fitness were unmistakable every year, and there are images of some layers at the card table.
“Luka Magic” became “Skinny Luka”
Unprofessionality that came to the Mavericks at the beginning of the year. He was actually chosen to shape an era in Dallas as the successor to the German icon of Dirk Nowitzki. Instead, those responsible pulled the ripcords and, in February – in the opinion of many below value – handed it over to Los Angeles in exchange with Anthony Davis.
And the old allegations quickly caught up with him at the new place of work. Doncic played spectacularly, but the team could not get far alongside superstar LeBron James. Already in the first play-off round was over and Doncic’s loan was used up. In his analysis, coach JJ Redick addressed unusually significant criticism of Doncics defensive behavior and fitness.
His new team was that the summer planning took away from him. With a staff of nutritionists, physiotherapists and fitness trainers, the sloppy genius had to work on its deficits. He started with interval fasting and took at least 250 grams of protein every day by consistently consuming eggs and chicken for meals. Since then, rice or noodles have been rare. Nuts help him against the cravings that he has been carrying with him ever since.
The first pictures let the basketball world startle. “Luka Magic” became “Skinny Luka”. He had never been seen so fit, and he himself also expressed a positive statement about his new appearance. He sleeps better, be more powerful, feels fitter and healthier, he said and for the NBA season, which began in October, soothed the answer to an extremely exciting and much discussed question: Was Doncic so good despite or because of his unprofessional lifestyle? In other words, does he need his excesses to be able to call up extraordinary achievements, or tilt, beer and fast food obstacle to perfection to perhaps the greatest basketball player in history?
The first indications of the European Championship are not yet recognizable for the Lakers Installation traveled. Especially with the first two group games, the defeats against Poland (95: 105) and France (95: 103), everything was actually as always: Doncic scored a spectacular number with 34 and 39 points, had good statistics at rebounds and litter odds, but in the end looked physically exhausted. So everything as always, only that he looks better.
