The spell of

Luka Doncic

conditions everything, hypnotizes the rival as if he were a shaman.

Spain succumbed to the genius, capable of the most difficult, giving up his shots, involving his teammates to increase his own legend.

Slovenia, at the rhythm of its almighty leader, will be first in the group, which condemns the team to a thorny path: in a few hours the draw will match them in the quarterfinals with the USA (50% chances), France or Australia.

[Narration and statistics: 87-95]

Luka Doncic's virtue was knowing how to read difficulties. He has the talent in his hands and the power in his head. He only scored 12 points, just two triples and eight free throws, but he flirted with the triple-double and became a metronome. Few have put this Spain in so much trouble as it is the flag defense. Overmarked from the start, the Mavericks knew how to find his teammates time and time again. Spain, always with the initiative on the scoreboard, ended up paying its erratic end. Doncic didn't even need to score in the fourth quarter. A stumble that this time has punishment.

And that the start seemed to presage the opposite. There were as many glances on Doncic as on what Scariolo was going to make up against him. And the Italian once again deployed his tactical arsenal, which he uses for the key moments of each tournament. Because this was it: what went from a win to a defeat, despite having both already qualified for the quarterfinals, was a terrible crossing in 48 hours or a somewhat kinder one against Italy or Germany. And against the indefensible, the player with a thousand resources, he resorted to a 'Box plus 1', something he already used, for example, in the semifinals of the last World Cup against Patty Mills.

Claver was Doncic's shadow, at full speed, while the other four strove to reduce all the risks that this entailed. Because in Slovenia there is no guy whose wrist shakes from the perimeter and they walk with confidence through the roof. When the Mavericks man went to the bench in the fifth minute with three fouls - two of them in attack - and just a triple on his account, it could have been concluded that the plan had been successful. But the scoreboard did not fully corroborate it.

Once Doncic was 'canceled' - at least for that long time - it was time to win the game. And it happens so many times that things happen the other way around. Because, with the focus on the bench, the one that got off the track was Spain, defensive mistakes that were not made before. It was already sensed that it was not going to be the most clairvoyant afternoon. And Slovenia, on a patriotic mission, came up without his guide. If before it had been the triples that sustained the team offensively (five in the first quarter), now baskets were missed in the paint. The Balkans even took the lead (33-32) shortly after Luka returned, to whom the referee's compensation was now bringing him again and again to the free throw line.

It was going to be another two triples (Abalde and Ricky on the table) that would leave Spain with an advantage at halftime (44-41), in an insufferable first half, plagued by interruptions. That it had little to do with the return, where the selection, at last, seemed to be unleashed. He did it taking advantage of Doncic's indolence in defense, saving effort and cautious of making the fourth. For this reason, the one who danced with him did not hesitate to throw when the former Real Madrid player left them two meters. Abalde did it and also Rudy, two in a row to put the maximum (55-43).

But the afternoon in Saitama was going to get tangled, because not even Doncic had said his last word.

Geniuses are capable of chameleonically adapting to situations and the risks Spain was running were too many, as an open path for the rest.

Cancar was a torment from the corners and even the rough Dimec hurt on the offensive rebound.

With the second Spanish unit on the track, Slovenia took the lead (70-72).

And there Spain suffered, with a hole in the paint, in an increasingly agonizing battle.

At that moment of truth at the beginning of the last act, the triple emerged as a great ally, like an oxygen bottle at the bottom of the sea, four in a row, two of them from a Pau Gasol as a hymn to the past.

With the quintet back, in the abyss the light for Spain was completely turned off.

Prepelic and Tobey, key the two Valencia players, gave the last push and in the final play, the bravest was Abalde, but his triple this time did not enter.

Ricky had thrown 23 times already, too many.

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Know more

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