By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Slovenia ended its first-ever Olympics run in the fourth place of the Tokyo Olympic Tournament, after a tough loss to Australia on Saturday. Luka Doncic, the nation’s leader in their inaugural experience, talked about managing the load of pressure and distractions and how he looks to learn from this tournament and improve in the future.
“Respect to Australia. They played amazing and I can’t say otherwise. It felt like they couldn’t miss a shot and they obviously deserved it, because they played better than us. I am really proud of this team but I feel bad for the people in our country. I know everyone was cheering and we wanted to give them a medal and we wanted to win it. It was everybody’s focus”, said Doncic, who faced his second consecutive defeat in the tournament, his only two with the Slovenian NT.
“We were a little bit too emotional in both games – especially me. I have got to learn from that and it is not the way I should be behaving. We played for our country of two million people and we wanted to get them that medal. We were away from our families and you can trust me that we really gave it our all”.
Doncic had 22 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists for Slovenia, though nothing could stop Patty Mills who erupted with a 42-point performance.
“I am 22 and I have got to learn from this. It is their way to try and get into my head and sometimes I let them in and that is my fault,” he said about how he needs to avoid distractions on the court.
Photo: FIBA