In a quick turnaround after falling to France on Saturday, Slovenia battled Belgium in a back-to-back for both teams on Sunday. Led by a triple-double from Luka Dončić, Slovenia picked up its first win over EuroBasket play, downing the Belgians, 86-69.
Luka wasn’t quite as prolific with his scoring after dropping 39 points against the French, but he instead flirted with a triple-double. He finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists and three steals to lead Slovenia to the victory. He again struggled
with his efficiency, shooting just 9-23 from the field and 2-11 from the 3-point line.
It was a change of script for Luka in this one. After starting fast throughout the tournament, Luka struggled in the first quarter.
A combination of playing on the second night of a back-to-back and the minutes load Luka has had this tournament led to him missing his first four shots of the game. While he knocked down his next two shots, the latter a 3-pointer, he would ask for a sub earlier than normal.
After knocking down two freebies to give him seven points in the first quarter, Luka exited the game with 2:34 left. Throughout the tournament, his sub would come in the final seconds of the quarter. But after shooting 2-8 to open the game, including 1-5 from the 3-point line, one night after playing 35 minutes against France, it was perhaps not a surprise to see him take an early break.
Despite Luka’s struggles, Slovenia led throughout the quarter against their weakest opponent yet in the tournament in Belgium. After one, Slovenia led 16-10.
The two sides continued to struggle in the second quarter. However, with Slovenia remaining in control, Luka was afforded more time on the bench and didn’t return until the eight-minute mark with his side up 21-12. Luka immediately banked in a mid-range jumper to extend the advantage to 23-12, giving him nine points.
A mini-spurt from Belgium cut the lead to seven and forced a timeout, but Luka responded with an and-one jumper to make it a 10-point lead again. Some early trash talk back and forth between the two sides had Luka chirping at the Belgian players after the three-point play as well.
Slovenia continued to build its lead and a Luka transition layup gave them a 37-23 lead with 2:10 remaining, their largest advantage of the game. Luka responded to a Belgian 3-pointer with one of his own late in the period, giving him 19 points in the opening two periods and helping Slovenia lead 43-31 at the half.
Luke opened the second half with a friendly roll on a mid-range jumper. After converting on a free throw after a technical foul on Belgium’s coach, Luka threw a dime to the rolling big man to make it 50-31 for Slovenia.
A 10-2 run by Belgium pulled them back to nearly single digits. Slovenia responded with the next seven points, including a Luka layup, to open it back up to a 16-point gap.
Luka was back to his normal rotation during the second half, playing the entirety of the third period as Slovenia led 64-48 heading into the fourth.
After checking out between quarters, Luka returned three minutes into the final frame. With Slovenia in control, it was a fairly anticlimactic fourth quarter with the only notable moment being Luka achieving his triple-double.
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