Seventeen matches in the national team.
Seventeen wins.
In the Slovenia jersey, Luka Doncic has never crashed and since the start of the Tokyo Games, the young basketball player continues to walk on the water.
He will be the man to watch in the semi-final which will oppose, Thursday, August 5, France to Slovenia.
After brilliantly supporting his team during the Olympic qualifying tournament last June, the Dallas Mavericks player recites his ranges in Japan.
In the first meeting, against Argentina, he scored 48 points for a 118-100 victory. He achieved the second best total of points in an Olympic meeting (tied with Eddie Palubinskas), behind Oscar's 55 points. Schmidt in 1988. Tuesday during the victory of Slovenia in the quarter-finals against Germany (94-70), the player once again splashes his opponents with his talent with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 11 assists.
Top 4 in the world, a country of 2M people!
What a feeling!
🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮❤️❤️❤️ #mislovenci pic.twitter.com/bK0woXuDRT
- Luka Doncic (@ luka7doncic) August 3, 2021
"I was just born to play basketball"
At only 22 years old, he is already considered one of the best basketball players on the planet and one of the sensations of the Tokyo Games. A label that he assumes. "I appreciate being a star of these Games, I feel comfortable with this status, if indeed I am a star," he told Eurohoops magazine.
Luka Doncic was bottle-fed with an orange balloon. Son of the former Serbian player Sasa Doncic, naturalized Slovenian in the 90s, he started playing basketball when he was young while attending his father's matches. "I remember he was still under the basket," told Reverse magazine, Goran Dragic, the father's former teammate and current NBA player. "Even at that age, it was obvious that he felt the game well. Like his father. When we came back from the locker room at half-time, he was there all the time shooting. I always kept it. this memory in mind ".
On April 30, 2015, Luka Dončić made his professional debut for Real Madrid in the Liga ACB against Unicaja.
At 16 years, 2 months, and 2 days of age, he became the youngest player to ever play for Real Madrid in the ACB.
@ luka7doncic are we forget something?
pic.twitter.com/p8qTuV8qCz
- Sports History (@ SportsHistory13) April 30, 2020
In the youth teams, Luka Doncic is already panicking the counters and playing in the higher categories. For him, basketball is not just a sport, it is a consuming passion. "I think it's a gift," he explained to the Euroleague.net site. "I was just born to play basketball". At 13, the native of Ljubljana went into exile in Spain to train at the prestigious Real Madrid. Three years later, he became the club's youngest player to play in La Liga. He then followed the titles with one Euroleague, three Spanish championships, two Copa del Rey and an intercontinental cup. He also shines in the national team. In 2017, he participated in the European Championship with Slovenia, which won the competition by being undefeated.Luka Doncic is named in the best five of the competition along with compatriot Goran Dragic, Spaniard Pau Gasol, Russian Alexeï Chved and Serbian Bogdan Bogdanovic.
The wonderkid ✅
The teenager who makes the world of 🏀 go crazy ✅ # FlashBackFriday to @ Luka7Doncic 'miracles during # EuroBasket2017! @Kzs_si 🇸🇮 pic.twitter.com/ocCA3UsTpz
- FIBA EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) December 15, 2017
A resounding debut in the NBA
Its exploits can no longer be limited to Europe alone.
The Slovenian nugget was selected in 2018 in 3rd position in the NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks before being sent to the Dallas Mavericks.
The arrival on American soil does not change his habits.
Luka Doncic continues to progress with insolence.
He was even named rookie of the year at the end of his first season and became the second European player to win this award after Pau Gasol.
See this post on Instagram
A post shared by Luka Doncic (@lukadoncic)
Since then, he made the heyday of the Dallas Mavericks where after the departure of German legend Dirk Nowitzki, he regained the status of fan favorite. During the last season, he sent his team to the playoffs where the Texans faced in the first round, as in the previous year, the Los Angeles Clippers of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Even though the Mavericks are eliminated in seven innings, Luka Doncic is averaging an impressive 35.7 points, 10.3 assists and 7.9 rebounds in this series. Become essential to the franchise, the Slovenian is now entitled to his official day, July 6, in Dallas County. He could also sign a contract extension of more than $ 200 million over five years this summer, according to rumors reported by Basket USA.
Dallas County has officially declared July 6th as Luka Doncic Day 🪄 @ luka7doncic |
#MFFL pic.twitter.com/u5H3S9RlYk
- Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) July 6, 2021
The "magic" of Doncic
But the basketball player wants to stay focused on Olympic competition.
Slovenian coach Aleksandar Sekulic knows he can count on the incredible motivation of his leader, as Basket Infos reports: "When you have Luka, it's easy. Everything is easy. He's not here to show off. . He's here to help the team in the first place. He's come to have fun on the pitch, have fun with the guys and we're here to use it as much as possible, to use, let's say it, the magic".
The French have been warned. They know that they will have to do everything to contain him in the semi-final, even if for Nicolas Batum, Slovenia is not just about this one player. "They are the reigning European champions for good reason and together with Luka they are at 17-0. It is not just about Luka although he is arguably one of the best in the world at it. moment. It's a great team, "said the Blues winger. “You can't let Luka Doncic score 50 points,” French coach Vincent Collet also said. “Against Spain they were 8 or 9 points behind and they came back without him. It shows that it's a great team, with a fantastic leader. ”
One step away from the final, all eyes are therefore on the Luka Doncic phenomenon.
The young man who loved basketball so much touches his dream with his finger.
Asked at a press conference about his preference between a gold medal and an NBA title, he hinted that he would choose an Olympic coronation.
"You play for your country and that's really something, but I wouldn't mind having both," he added mischievously.
Košarkarji #TeamSlovenia se bodo v polfinalu @ Tokyo2020 @Olympics pomerili s Francijo.
Tekma bo na sporedu v četrtek, 5. avgusta, ob 20.00 (13.00🇸🇮) .🏀 # imamoto #imamotokio #ifeelslovenia @SloveniaInfo @kzs_si pic.twitter.com/z4K6z3DMUL
- Team Slovenia (@TeamSlovenia) August 3, 2021
With AFP
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