Great as an individual throughout the EuroBasket, Luka Doncic stalled at the end, at the worst possible moment, when his team was in difficulty, jostled by Poland. Without the usual genius of its leader, the Slovenian selection thus worked in slow motion, and ultimately failed to overcome the Polish obstacle, more difficult to maneuver than one could imagine, despite a third quarter. stunning.
Physically diminished, visibly affected in the lower back and therefore not as reactive as usual, Luka Doncic made a mixed copy, for his last outing of the tournament. He compiled 15 points at 5/15 on shots, 11 rebounds and 7 assists, but also 6 lost balls and 5 fouls, synonymous with a premature end to the match (three minutes from the end of the match.) Beyond the statistics, we felt very frustrated, as always vis-à-vis the refereeing body, like this technical foul received in the last act.
In short, Luka Doncic was not really on his plate during this quarter-final, and, severe with himself as a good competitor, he blames himself for not having been able to find other resources to help his people. .
” I was probably 100%, that’s for sure he logically conceded after the meeting. ” I even received an injection in the third quarter. I had a lot during this EuroBasket, but that’s not a reason to explain my performance. I was bad. I let down my team, my country. It’s my fault.“
Poland did not steal their ticket for the final four
Far from making his physical glitches an excuse, the Dallas player did not forget, afterwards, to congratulate his executioners of the day. If the outcome of the match might have been different with a 100% physically “Luka Magic”, the fact remains that Poland played very well and fully deserved their victory.
” First of all, congratulations to Poland” so he said, opening his post-match press conference. ” From the first to the last minute, they played an incredible game. This is a very big moment for them. About us, we did not play as we would have liked. The energy was not there. We certainly came back, but Poland continued to fight. Well done again.“
He then assured that Slovenia had not underestimated their opponent of the day. The result of this match is, according to him, rather the result of a very homogeneous level this year in the tournament, and therefore of a margin ultimately quite small between most of the teams qualified for the final stages.
With the successive defeats of Serbia, Greece and Slovenia, the three favorites of the competition, it quickly became apparent that there was no obvious hierarchy in this EuroBasket.
” Let’s give Poland the credit it deserves. A lot of people saw us as the favourites, but Poland have a hell of a team! I had the same speech after our match against Belgium. […] This EuroBasket is something! There are a lot of good teams he concluded.
