By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
MANILA, Philippines – History made for Canada!
With prime FIBA World Cup MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31 p.) and RJ Barrett (24 p) leading a balanced effort on both ends of the floor, Canada made it to the semifinals of the FIBA World Cup by beating Slovenia 100-89.
The Canadiens gained the chance to play for a medal in major FIBA competitions outside the Americas for the first time after winning silver in the 1936 Olympics and also thanks to this result Serbia and Germany have directly qualified to the Paris Olympics.
On the contrary, Slovenia will settle for a spot in the Olympic qualifiers and another exit in the quarterfinals as happened in last year’s Eurobasket.
Luka Doncic who got a technical foul in the first half, was visibly frustrated during the game and talked intensely with his coach, refs, opponents, and even FIBA officials sitting in the VIP section. He scored 26 points and got disqualified with a second “T” with six minutes left in the game.
It was an inglorious exit from medal contention, while Klemen Prepelic added 22 points for the losing side.
Love (lost) for Luka
Nobody expected this turn of events after an epic first half.
In a close first quarter, in which the only evident takeaway was that Philippino fans love Luka Doncic more than any other player of the World Cup, Canada got a 26-24 lead.
With both teams playing uptempo and not being shy to score everything was tied at 50 with 59 seconds left in the first half.
Watch the upcoming World Cup on the official streaming service of FIBA! Join Courtside 1891 and never miss a second of the action!
Surprisingly enough, nobody scored in the time left while Doncic with 17 points, and Klemen Prepelic with 11 led the way for Slovenia.
Gilgeous-Alexander with 13 points, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker with 10 were the first-half top scorers for the North Americans.
The pattern changed in the second half with Canada getting a 59-52 lead after a three by Dillon Brooks and then RJ Barrett getting the breakaway dunk for a nine-point advantage (61-52).
With a partial score of 19-5, Canada led by 14 (69-55) while Slovenia suddenly was out of sync, and even a three by Doncic (69-58) didn’t change the momentum.
The Canadians pushed the lead to 16 (77-61) and that’s when finally Doncic took over and managed to make it a nine-point game (80-71) entering the last period.
Still, Canada opened the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run (87-71) and the game was over even if Slovenia trimmed the lead to nine (94-85) without Doncic on the floor. Alexander-Walker and Brooks scored 14 points each for the winning side, with Brooks being also disqualified with a second “T” one minute before Doncic.
PHOTO CREDIT: FIBA