The Mavericks' Luka Doncic joined Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic as NBA superstars who were bounced in the knockout rounds of EuroBasket, as upstart Poland defeated Doncic's Slovenia, 90-87, on Wednesday. The Polish team held Luka to 14 points and forced him into six turnovers as it withstood a furious late rally from the defending champions and advanced to face France in the semifinals.
Doncic played with an injured back, but he made no excuses after the game.
Luka Doncic: "I played terribly. I let my team down. I let the whole country that was supporting us down" pic.twitter.com/06Nkoh8R2o
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) September 14, 2022
In 2017, Slovenia won the EuroBasket tournament behind MVP Goran Dragic and Doncic, who made the all-tournament team at 18. But this year the lightly regarded Poland team, which entered the tournament as long shots (50-to-1 odds to win it all), crushed the Slovenians in the first half.
It has been 51 years since Poland made a EuroBasket semifinal. Their team doesn't feature an NBA player, but they took down a star-laden squad. Slovenia has Doncic, Dragic and Vlatko Cancar of the Denver Nuggets.
Earlier, the heavily favored Serbian team featuring reigning NBA MVP Jokic lost to Italy, which has just a handful of players with NBA experience. Germany, a 17-1 shot to win the tournament, beat two-time MVP Antetokounmpo and Greece behind Dennis Schroder -- still un-signed as an NBA free agent -- and Orlando rookie Franz Wagner.
Lone All-Star left standing at EuroBasket: France’s Rudy Gobert
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) September 14, 2022
Potential future All-Star: Germany’s Franz Wagner https://t.co/h5QbK1HF8N
That is indeed rare for EuroBasket. Although the influx of European players to the NBA is a recent phenomenon, if you look at recent EuroBasket MVPs, it's a list of former All-Stars: Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol (twice), Tony Parker, Dragic, and Andrei Kirilenko. The lone exception was Juan Carlos Navarro, who was a huge star in Spain if not the NBA.
This could mean that superstars such as Doncic are burned out after an 82-game NBA season and playoffs, or it could simply mean that the level of play across Europe has increased that even an NBA All-Star can't take his opponents for granted.
Regardless, Poland's Mateusz Ponitka played like a superstar against Slovenia, putting up 26 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.
LEGENDARY.
— #EuroBasket 2022 (@EuroBasket) September 14, 2022
Mateusz Ponitka drops the 3rd triple double in #EuroBasket history.
Previous 2:
Toni Kukoc, 1995: 15 PTS, 12 REB 11 AST
Andrei Mandache, 2017: 14 PTS 10 REB 11 AST#BringTheNoise pic.twitter.com/nl3sQfCmyH
Ponitka and his teammates will get another test on Friday when they face Rudy Gobert and France in the semifinals. But it sounds like they've decided, hey, let's go for the gold.
⚪️ : Panowie, świętujemy i co… IDZIEMY PO ZŁOTO ❗️#KoszKadra@EnergaSA @PKN_ORLEN @BankPekaoSA @kgs_pl @RMF24pl @sport_tvppl pic.twitter.com/sC1mX8qQae
— KoszKadra (@KoszKadra) September 14, 2022
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