After dropping their first game of the tournament to Poland, Slovenia looks to bounce back as they face France on Saturday. France is ranked fourth best in the world and is coming off a dominant 92-64 victory against Belgium.
Star time and TV schedule
Who: Slovenia vs. France
When: 8 a.m. PT, Aug. 30
Where: Spodek Arena, Poland
Watch: Courtside 1891
Slovenia’s first EuroBasket game this year was a forgettable one. They entered the contest as supposed favorites, but they appeared to be a level below Poland.
Despite Luka Dončić putting up a tournament-high of 34 points to go with nine assists, five steals, four rebounds and two blocks, the Slovenians didn’t have the firepower to keep up with the host country.
It’s not going to get any easier for Slovenia moving forward, as they’re facing their most threatening opponent in their group next, in France.
While France may not have the likes of Victor Wembanyama, Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert rostered in this year’s contest, their team is still arguably better than what we’ve seen from Slovenia all summer.
For Slovenia to avoid going down 0-2, they can’t have a repeat of what happened against Poland. More needs to be done, particularly outside of Dončić, who gets the toughest defensive coverage on most possessions.
Luka saw double teams all game and normally, the best way to punish that is for his teammates to knock down open shots when he finds them.
Unfortunately, no Slovenian did that against Poland, as only Edo Murič scored more than 15 points.
The team as a whole converted just 13 out of their 37 3-point attempt and that’s not going to cut it. To keep up with France’s youth and experience, Slovenia must convert their shots and lean into one particular strength they’ve shown thus far, their interior presence.
The Slovenians won the rebounding battle 31-29 against Poland, but what stood out was how they generated second-chance points from the 15 offensive rebounds they secured.
Perhaps they can explore finding more opportunities to score inside the paint, especially knowing that France’s frontcourt towers of Wembanyama and Gobert aren’t going to be around.
Besides finding more offensive production, the more pressing issue that Slovenia needs to figure out is their defense. Poland had four of its members in double figures, including 32 from Jordan Loyd, who couldn’t be stopped all game.
They shot 53.8% from the 3-point line and just played with more force and energy. Slovenia needs to show more resistance on this end against France, which will be led by Guerschon Yabusele.
In contrast to Slovenia, France has the ability to garner offensive contributions from top to bottom. In their first game against Belgium, 12 of their players wrote their names on the scoresheet.
They may not have a superstar of Dončić‘s caliber, but they have a disciplined system that high-caliber role players like Bilal Coulibaly, Elie Okobo and Zaccharie Risacher thrive in. This match is going to be a contrast in styles and for Slovenia to win, they need to play their best basketball of the summer yet.
Let’s see if they can do just that as the group phase stage continues on Saturday.
Notes and Updates:
- Since the Slovenians dropped their first game of the tournament, they’re now in fourth place in the Group D standings. There’s still a lot of basketball to be played, but with one game in the books, France, Israel and Poland are currently ahead of them.
- For Lakers-related news, Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka were spotted sitting courtside supporting Dončić against Poland. They’ve been in Poland over the last couple of days, where they also paid a visit to the Team Slovenia during one of their practices.
You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.
