Luka Dončić did all he could on Thursday, but Slovenia came up short in its opening game of EuroBasket 2025 against Poland, falling 105-95.
In front of a lively Polish crowd, Luka tried to play the villain role, pouring in 34 points with nine assists, five steals, four rebounds and two blocks. He was an efficient 7-14 from the field and made a living at the charity stripe, hitting 17 of his 18 attempts. The 34 points are the most of any player so far in EuroBasket.
Only one other Slovenian player reached
double figures, though, while four different Polish players accomplished that feat.
As has been the case throughout the summer, Luka was shouldering a heavy burden for Slovenia offensively from the onset. Poland made a point to double team Luka, often blitzing him on ball screens.
Still, Luka got his points, weaving his way to the rim for the first basket of the game for his side. In front of their home fans, Poland was on fire throughout the first, forcing Luka to match them basket for basket to keep the game close.
He made a number of trips to the free throw line in the opening period, hitting all seven of his attempts. He also came up with a couple of blocks on the defensive end early, too.
Luka continued his strong start offensively with a 3-pointer and a double-clutch layup to keep Slovenia within a possession of Poland. After being fouled on a long-range effort, he tied the game with his three freebies.
Poland, however, finished the quarter strong and led by four, 29-25, heading into the second period.
Slovenia played the first three minutes of the period with Luka on the bench and held their own, keeping it just a two-point game when Luka returned. He turned facilitator throughout much of the quarter and Slovenia used a big run in the middle of the quarter to close the gap to 42-41 after things looked to be getting away.
He eventually gave them the lead with a long, long stepback 3-pointer to push his side ahead 46-45. Poland, though, hit a buzzer-beating, acrobatic layup at the buzzer to lead 47-46 going into the half.
That strong finish to the half did not cary over after the break as Slovenia fell behind by seven at 56-49. Luka played his role in that, throwing up a wild 3-pointer trying to draw a foul before then getting a technical seconds later.
Things quickly unraveled as, after the Poland free throw, Slovenia committed another foul, then the bench was given a technical. Poland converted on the trio of free throws, making it a 13-3 run to go ahead by 11. Another turnover by Luka led to another Poland basket and forced a timeout.
Luka got to the rim for a layup out of the break to break the run. While he committed a foul on the other end to give Poland more free throws, he atoned for it with a basket and a foul, giving him 22 points on the night.
Slovenia, though, was slowly losing its grasp on the game as Poland remained hot from the field in front of their home fans. While Slovenia kept the deficit hovering around 10 points, Poland took momentum into the final frame with another buzzer-beater, this one a stepback 3-pointer to give them an 80-69 advantage.
A quick spurt out of the gate to hope the fourth helped Slovenia get back within six points. Luka was continuing to do all he could, but an inability to get stops defensively plagued Slovenia. In an encapsulation of the night, a silly unsportsmanlike foul from Slovenia after a made Polish basket gave Poland two free throws to add to their double-digit lead.
Luka’s 3-pointer with 6:05 remaining looked to serve as one final spark to try to get his side going again. On the next possession, he got to the rim, drew contact and converted the pair of free throws, making it an 87-80 game. Again, though, it was the defensive end that continued to doom Slovenia as they couldn’t get the requisite stops to make any real comeback attempt.
Jordan Loyd, who finished with 32 points for Poland, put the final touches on the win with a slew of baskets down the stretch.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
