By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
One of the main criticisms against Luka Doncic is the fact that he complains a lot to the referees. However, according to his veteran teammate Klemen Prepelic, that’s not the case.
As he explained, per Slovenian media, after the game against Poland: “People think that we deal a lot with the referees, but that is far from the truth. Communication on the court is normal, but no one likes to lose. I am proud of the boys; we played against a really talented opponent. Three years ago, it started well but ended very badly, so I am optimistic”.
“Luka proved once again that he is one of the best basketball players in the world, if not the best. He again played a lot of mismatches; he was doubled a lot, and sometimes he was even held by three basketball players at once. I think that, unfortunately, there was a lot of contact on him, but he reacted perfectly, he played a good game, he was a real leader, and was very positive, which we really needed. But I think he didn’t have the right help this time, and by that I mean mainly myself; I missed a lot of open shots. I simply wasn’t in rhythm, but keep your heads up and let’s move on,” said Prepelic, who had eight points on 3/10 FG in the defeat.
Coach Alexander Sekulic mentioned in the press conference that “some strange things happened on the court.” He was probably referring to the technical foul that was awarded to Doncic, followed by a second technical foul on the bench, admitting that this was a key point in the game.
Prepelic defended the fact that Doncic and his teammates are talking to the referees and explained why: “This is a very natural situation, there is a lot of communication with the referees and also the opponents on the court. There is a lot of trash talk; it often happens that someone pushes Luka away when he is not on the ball, and the same thing happened to me. Basketball is a contact sport, and it’s normal for the referees not to manage to do everything correctly. We also lose balls and make mistakes, and they also have the right to make mistakes. The fact is that we have to talk to them; if we did not, we probably would not care, which would be worrying, but we have proven many times that everyone on this team cares. Far from being too concerned with the referees, it is certainly difficult because Luka is constantly ‘beaten up’, but if we do not protect him, then who will?”