By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Slovenia superstar Luka Doncic expressed his appreciation to the Dallas Mavericks for giving him their blessing to participate in the Olympic Qualifiers and represent his beloved national team once more.
“I want to thank Dallas for letting me play,” Doncic said in the post-game presser after Slovenia’s blowout loss to Croatia in their opener for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament of Piraeus. “They never had a problem with this. They always know I’m going to play. It’s a big honor for me.”
Doncic has never skipped a summer tournament over the last couple of years. In 2021, he joined Slovenia for the Olympic Qualifiers of Kaunas, Lithuania, and pushed his side towards clinching a ticket to the Tokyo competition. He was present in the 2022 EuroBasket and in 2023 he led the team in the FIBA World Cup.
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This year Doncic wouldn’t miss the challenge of making the Olympic Games with Slovenia once more. Only this time, he did it amid particularly strenuous circumstances and following a deep postseason run during which he played injured and through pain.
His discomfort seems to still be persistent and was visible in moments during the game vs. Croatia. Still, no amount of physical toil can overpower his eagerness to wear the Slovenia jersey.
“It’s normal for me to play for my country,” Doncic explained. “Obviously, a lot of times there’s going to be injuries.”
Doncic also got barely any rest after finishing the season with the Mavs. He played in Game 5 of the NBA Finals vs. the Boston Celtics on June 17 and then joined the Slovenia training camp just a week afterward.
“I just feel a big honor to play for my country. We are two million. To represent my country means everything for me,” he added.
Doncic finished the game vs. Croatia with a triple-double of a game-high 26 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists over 36:56. Yet he shot 8 out of 23 from the field and the triple-double was ultimately registered while Croatia had already built a 20+ advantage and was cruising towards a comfortable win.
From the beginning of the game, Doncic was struggling and found it particularly difficult to connect to the basket. Despite getting to his sweet spots and creating some of the shots he usually makes, he finished the first quarter with 1 – 9.
“My shots… terrible,” Doncic commented.
Meanwhile, Croatia was firing on all cylinders from the get go to take a 31 – 16 lead. Slovenia was never able to put a halt to the Croatian machine that went on to take an 108 – 92 win behind a triple-double of 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists by NBA free-agent forward Dario Saric.
“I think Croatia played great,” Doncic admitted. They outplayed us. Our defense wasn’t good. We got to work on our defense. Starting with me. We got to play better than this. And we got to play with better energy.”