By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
A sold-out crowd at Stozice Arena in Ljubljana was in for a treat from the moment the game started between Slovenia and Greece.
Luka Doncic mesmerized the audience, but in a thriller finish Greece managed to get the win playing without Giannis Antetokounmpo in a preparation game for the Word Cup 98-91
Doncic tabbed a triple-double with 20 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds. But in the end, he did not manage to get a win for his team, but non the less the Slovenian crowd did enjoy some Luka magic.
As for the Greek national team, they were down by eight points at half-time, but in the second half, they managed to find an offensive rhythm, mainly because Kostas Papanikolaou was on fire from beyond the arc. Hitting all six three-point attempts he led his team with 18 points. Michalis Lountzis (photo) added 13 points for Greece.
For Slovenia, besides Doncic, Jordan Morgan had 16 points, Klemen Prepelic had 13, Vlatko Cancar and Zoran Dragic added 12.
A good first step for Greece
With the Greek national team missing their starting backcourt of Nick Calathes and Kostas Sloukas and with the presence of Giannis for the FIBA World Cup in huge doubt, the win was at least a moral boost.
As Greek national team coach Dimitris Itoudis admitted: “We are a team that can play even better defense, but we weren’t really cohesive. However, for a first game, we reacted and balanced things out, we sacrificed and that should be our identity”.