By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Last year in Kaunas, Luka Doncic won one more crucial game for his legacy with the Slovenian national team. Doncic led Slovenia to the win and the Olympics in the final of the qualifying tournament against host Lithuania
“At every turn, we hear about the comparison with our last match between us from last year’s Olympic qualifiers, but it will be a completely different match”, admitted Aleksander Sekulic in Cologne, Germany, for the game between Slovenia and Lithuania which highlights the first day of Eurobasket 2022.
There will be enough marquee matchups in Group B – also known as the “Group of death” – but the first day sets the tone and Sekulic knows it: “The national team of Lithuania is always worthy of extremely high respect. They are definitely candidates for the highest places and medals this time as well. I am sure that we are in for a good match and a fierce fight for every ball.”
Goran Dragic who un-retired this summer for one more Eurobasket with Slovenia was not part of the team last summer. However, he was the MVP and remains the remaining Eurobasket champion after his 2017 triumph.
And of course, when you decide to come back as a champion, your only goal is to defend your title. As he said: “Five long years have passed since the last European Championship. A challenging tournament is ahead of us, which we are all looking forward to. The championship will be one of the most even ever, as most of the national teams have their strongest possible rosters. As professional athletes, we naturally prefer to play against the best. This gives us additional momentum and presents us with a great challenge. We trained well, the team is ready and we can’t wait for the opening match against Lithuania.’
Photo credit: Slovenian federation