Tokyo 2020 Olympics
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Doncic attacks FIBA, France fantasizes about gold: "Nothing is impossible"
The Slovenian star was frustrated at the end of the semi-final loss and tried to explain why he did not throw himself in the decisive attack: "It is not always possible to make a smart decision, I think it was good".
The tricolor praised Batum ("Batman move") and prepares for another fight against the US
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Luka Doncic
Slovenia national basketball team
France basketball team
2021 Olympics
Tokyo 2020
Walla!
sport
Thursday, 05 August 2021, 16:50 Updated: 16:59
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The dream of the gold medal of Luka Doncic and the Slovenian team vanished today (Thursday) following a dramatic 90:89 loss to France at the end of an epic game in the semi-finals, which sent the tricolor to a meeting with the USA and the Dallas Mavericks star for the bronze match against Australia. Of Doncic in the national uniform, having so far won all 17 of his appearances and on the way, of course - won the European Championship in 2017.
This will certainly not comfort the 22-year-old superstar, who suffered a weak shooting west and finished with 16 points after only five points. Shots out of 18 he took in total, but Doncic today recorded only the third triple-double in the history of the Olympics and the first since LeBron James in 2012, with the third to do so being Alexander Libya in 1976. Luca handed out no less than 18 Assists and also dropped 10 rebounds, but he also provided visitors with a good reason to attribute the responsibility for the loss to him.
Doncic, perhaps due to the bad percentages from the field he suffered from, gave up the possibility of throwing in all four of the last attacks in the game, including the one that decided in favor of France in which Nicola Batum tremendously blocked Kalman Perplich.
According to reports, when teammate Ziga Dimatch was asked at the end of the game to analyze what had happened during the last, Doncic erupted and shouted "Fiba has happened", repeating several times that Fiba was happy with the result of the game.
The Slovenian newspaper "Delo" of course backed the team with the headline "Guys, you guys are gold".
In addition, American journalist Keith Smith tweeted: "People who criticize Luca Doncic have no idea. He played injured, controlled anyway and made the right decision. If the basket had been caught, Doncic would have been praised for his game wisdom. "What he did for the Slovenian team is amazing."
More on Walla!
France defeated Slovenia 89:90 en route to the final of the Olympic tournament
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Summarizing the loss himself, Doncic said: "I am very proud of this team. Everyone gave 100%. We worked hard for two months to be here. We may have surprised a lot of people, but I am proud of everyone and we have one more final. We are not giving up yet. ".
On the decisive move he added: "Batum came to help so I had to deliver. I think he was available and a great room, but Batum blocked great. It is not always possible to make a smart decision, but that is what I decided and I think it was good."
Batum turned out to be a real "black sheep" for the Slovenian lift, as a few months ago he also ousted him in the NBA playoffs when the Clippers overtook Dallas.
At the end, the Frenchman came to comfort Doncic and the two hugged for long seconds: "Nicola is classy. He told me he hates to play against me, but in a positive sense. It was nice of him," Luca said.
Batum himself said: "I had to make a move like that. I was in the Olympics twice and got hit twice. All my life I dreamed of appearing in the final. I watched 'Dream Team', that's why I started following the NBA and always dreamed of playing a game like that. I knew I had no good game. On offense, but I had to make such a move to take the team to the final and I did it. "
Owen Fournier complimented the French hero: "Nico made his 'Batman' moves at the end. Obviously we are happy, but we have to concentrate because we came here to win gold."
Rudy Gober added: "This is a childhood dream come true. I do not know if we are digesting it. We need to prepare for a big challenge against the United States. Nothing is impossible in life."
The "Tricolor", who had to settle for the silver medal in 1948 and 2000, will this time hope to go all the way and given their results against the United States in the last two years, it is hard to say that the Americans are favorites.
As you may recall, France knocked out Greg Popovich and his players from the 2019 World Cup and also defeated them right in the opening game of the current tournament, but it is clear that all this will not affect the meeting to be held on Saturday morning.
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