Behind yet another Luka Dončić masterclass, Slovenia picked up its best win of EuroBasket, knocking off Israel with a 106-94 win.
It was the strongest game of the tournament for Luka, which is an awfully high bar. He finished with a stat-stuffing line of 37 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists, three steals and one block.
While Slovenia had a strong start to the game, Luka’s was a bit quiet. He did help his side out early with a layup to give them a 5-0 lead, but “only” scored 10 points in the opening
quarter, a mundane effort from Luka this tournament.
For much of the quarter, though, Slovenia led with Luka adding points throughout. He had a pair of free throws at the midway point of the period, then a putback layup later on. He closed the half with a runner in transition and a pair of freebies as Slovenia led 26-22 at the quarter break.
Luka didn’t stay quiet long as the second quarter got underway. After taking his routine rest to open the period, he opened his scoring with free throws before really coming alive. First, he nabbed a crosscourt pass from Israel for a steal and took it the other way for a layup, then connected on a stepback 3-pointer for his first long-range make of the day, giving Slovenia a 39-31 lead.
The ensuing Israel timeout did little to slow down Slovenia as everything was going their way. Even when Israel did get a basket, they followed it up with a technical, which Luka took full advantage of by making the free throw.
After finding a teammate for an open 3-pointer with a beautiful crosscourt dime, Luka closed the half in style by converting a layup through contact before, after slipping and not making his way down the court, being the beneficiary of some good fortune to close the half with a layup.
Predictably, Israel started the second half strong with a flurry of makes. However, Slovenia matched them point for point with Luka at the heart of it. He opened the half with a great alley-oop pass to give his side a 15-point lead. After three from Israel, Luka responded with his second of the game.
He then found his way inside for a putback layup before setting up a teammate off the in-bound for an easy basket. All of that was imperative to keep his side up by double digits despite Israel’s improved play.
The big moments of the quarter, though, came on a pair of fouls from Luka inside of 20 seconds. First, he was on the wrong end of a block/charge call on a fastbreak layup attempt. Then, moments later, he fouled Deni Avdija for his fourth foul. In FIBA, five fouls results in disqualification from a game and, with over five minutes left in the third, it put Slovenia in a tough spot.
Luka remained in the game for a few more minutes, where he did little, before sitting on the bench. Impressively, Slovenia remained in complete control even without Luka and went into the fourth leading 79-65.
Slovenia continued to roll the dice to start the fourth by leaving Luka on the bench. After some initial positive possessions, a five-point possession from Israel cut the deficit down to eight points and sparked a run. The deficit was trimmed to just five points after a 3-pointer to cap off a 13-4 run, forcing a Slovenia timeout and Luka into the game.
Out of the break, Luka knocked down a mid-range jumper to stop the run, then found a teammate for an open 3-pointer in transition and the lead immediately jumped back to 10. After another mini-spurt from Israel made it a five-point game, Luka responded with a long step-back 3-pointer before a fastbreak alley-oop again extended the lead to 10.
Luka delivered a huge final blow for Israel, who were scrambling for a comeback, but connecting on another step-back 3-pointer, giving him 37 points on the night and sealing the win.
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