By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
A perfect run of six wins for Luka Doncic and Slovenia in the prep games carried to the approaching official fixtures on the schedule of the senior national team.
The Dallas Mavericks superstar was held to 2/9 from the field and ten points in the 94-88 victory versus Croatia in Cejje Saturday. His efforts resulted in six assists, five rebounds, and one steal in 21 minutes. Rather than Doncic, the new addition to the Chicago Bulls Goran Dragic was the man of the hour.
From limited action in the previous friendly contests to a 16-point showing producing 19 points. The Dragon caught fire after the break pouring 14 of his points in the second half. Vlatko Cancar of the Denver Nuggets scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half. Croatia was in control for most of the way but did not hold on despite Dario Saric of the Phoenix Suns tallying 18 points, Bojan Bogdanovic of the Utah Jazz 15 points, and Ivica Zubac of the Los Angeles Clippers 13 points.
Prior to the game, national team selector Aleksander Sekulic opted to remove Sasa Ciani, Gregor Glas, Robert Jurkovic, Jurij Macura, Bine Prepelic, and Luka Scuka from the list of available players. Looking into official games, Slovenia will meet Estonia and Germany at the top of the 2023 FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers Group J, before switching to EuroBasket’s Group B to face Lithuania, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, and France in Cologne.
On the other end, the Chequered Ones were recently knocked out of the World Cup and thus will instead play 2025 EuroBasket Pre-Qualifiers in next week’s international window. Poland on the road and Switzerland at home are the first opponents in Group E. From there into EuroBasket’s Group C leads to matchups opposite Greece, Great Britain, Estonia, Italy, and Ukraine in Milan, in early September.
Photo Credit: Kosarkarska zveza Slovenije Twitter