Luka Doncic had a fantastic near triple-double performance in Slovenia’s 95-87 win over World Cup winners Spain. Topping Group C, the Slovenian team will now face Germany in their quarterfinals encounter, with a fairly easy path to the finals.
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Year after year Luka Doncic has been proving to everyone that he is amongst the best players in the world. The 22-year-old Dallas Mavericks prodigy is truly a sensational talent, with several records already in his name. In his three years in the NBA, Doncic has already put up an incredible resume – 2 All-Star selections, 2 All-NBA selections, Rookie of the Year, and will surely be one of the future faces of the world’s best basketball league.
This past year too, Luka simply had a terrific year, putting up 27.7 points, 8.6 assists and 8 rebounds per game. And almost eliminated the star-studded Los Angeles Clippers team after recording an insane 35.7/10.3/7.9 in his second-ever postseason appearance.
Even though Doncic’s 2020-2021 NBA season was over back in early June, Luka hasn’t seemed to cool off yet. Immediately after his 3rd season concluded, the 2-time All-Star joined his national team, leading Slovenia to their first-ever Olympic Games appearance.
Everyone expected Luka to have a great campaign in Tokyo. However, nobody was quite ready for just how dominant he would end up being for Slovenia. After putting up a historic 48-points debut against Argentina, recording 25/7/7 in a blowout win against Japan, Luka Doncic has managed to follow his terrific performance with yet another fantastic outing to defeat World Cup champions – Spain, in their final Group stage matches.
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NBA Twitter reacts to Luka Doncic leading his Slovenian team to the knockout stages of their debut Olympic Games
Playing against the Gasol brothers and their Spanish team is not an easy task for any national basketball team. Considering they are the current world cup winners, Spain was heavily favoured to win the encounter against Luka and co. However, Doncic had other plans. Stuffing the stat sheet, despite facing early foul troubles, with a 12-point, 14-rebounds and 9-assists near triple-double performance, Luka led Slovenia to upset Spain 95-87.
Luka Doncic finished with 12 PTS, 14 REB and 9 AST in a 95-87 win over Spain on Sunday.
Luka is now 16-0 with Slovenia in competition games heading into the #TokyoOlympics quarterfinals 👀 pic.twitter.com/gJwUBaboxW
— Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) August 1, 2021
With this huge win, Slovenia has managed to win all three of their group stages games, topping Group C with 6 points and an incredible 61-point difference. The Balkan team will now face Germany in their quarterfinals encounter.
Soon after their win, NBA fans congratulated Luka and Slovenia for advancing to the knockout staged of their maiden Olympic appearance.
Spain really lost to one person
— HoustonSzn (@astrosrocketszn) August 1, 2021
Luka Doncic is only player in the world who can dominate the game while making 2 shots
— Olympics Fanatic 🇪🇪 (@EuroopaKoss) August 1, 2021
Luka is going to drop a 50-piece against the USA and lose, but sc will still love it
— WIDubs (@WI_Dubs) August 1, 2021
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While Slovenia has a rather easier path to the finals, Kevin Durant and Team USA have a fairly tough route to the finals playing World Number 2 Spain in the quarters. The much-anticipated Slovenia-USA Gold medal matchup is very well on the cards if both the teams manage to make it to the last stage of the tournament.
