Doncic beats Bolmaro in the match between Slovenia and Argentina.BRIAN SNYDER / Reuters
Luka Doncic marveled at an unusual performance in his debut and that of the Slovenian national team at the Olympic Games. The 22-year-old guard devastated the Argentine defense with an overwhelming display. He wrote down when and how he wanted. There was no one to stop him. Garino, Campazzo, Bolmaro… Almost all the Argentine players, in a desperate attempt, stood in his way to stop him. Neither succeeded and Slovenia won by 100-118. The Mavericks point guard broke the game and squared some statistics that, despite being spectacular, are not enough to define the real dimension of his power to dominate the game.
The Slovenian player was relieved with more than four minutes remaining in the game. No more was needed. He had made it all very clear. 48 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks in 31 minutes. It is the second best scorer in Olympic Games history, equaling the record of a shooting specialist, Australian Eddie Palubinskas. The record is still held by the legendary Brazilian Oscar Schmidt, who added 55 points in a game against Spain in Seoul 1988. Those 48 points are also the best record in Doncic's career. In the NBA, his cap was 46 in a game against the Lakers.
The question everyone was asking is why coach Aleksander Sekulic replaced him when he was in a position to break Oscar Schmidt's record.
It was the Slovenian coach himself who replied: “This shows that he is here to do something for Slovenia, not for himself.
And he is an example for the rest of his colleagues ”.
Doncic confirmed: "I'm not worried about the records, the important thing was that the team won."
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Doncic's display broke all Argentina's plans, the prepared and the improvised, in such a way that coach Sergio Hernández released his conclusion of what happened without the need for anyone to ask him. “It is difficult to analyze the game when a single player dominates the situation as much as Luka Doncic did. We had prepared a defensive idea to separate him from the rest of the team, accepting that he would score points, but we wanted him not to make his teammates better, ”the Bahía Blanca coach began. “He spotted our plan immediately and killed us with 15 points in two and a half or three minutes. It forced us to have to change the system. We try everything. It may sound like an excuse to say that we couldn't do anything against a player. In my career I may have had a situation like this ..., but I don't remember it.That a player forces us to play something different from what we want to play, I don't remember ”, assured a coach who began his career in 1999, who was coach of his country already in a first stage in which he played precisely the famous semifinal of the 2006 World Cup against Spain in the same pavilion where the Games are now being held, which won the bronze medal in Beijing 2008 and in its second stage achieved the silver medal at the 2019 World Cup after losing the final to Spain.that he got the bronze medal in Beijing 2008 and that in his second stage he achieved the silver medal in the 2019 World Cup after losing the final against Spain.that he got the bronze medal in Beijing 2008 and that in his second stage he achieved the silver medal in the 2019 World Cup after losing the final against Spain.
"The best player in the world"
“I have to say that the analysis of the match today is called Luka Doncic. For me, and I said it two years ago, he is the best player in the world, including the NBA. And if I had any doubts, I already took it off today. He is the best player in the world and it is an honor to play against him. We wanted to win but this is a good experience. We wanted to go get him, put pressure on him when the ball came up. And, at other times, send him to a great so that he could not take advantage of his physique. Garino, Deck, Laprovittola, Vildoza, Bolmaro tried it ... I failed to defend him. The idea is that he played one game and the team another. We try our best against a normal player, but he is not normal ”, added the Argentine coach. Doncic preferred to value the triumph of a country, not a player. "It is a very special day for Slovenia",he said when he appeared in the Saitama press room an hour after the match ended.
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Doncic was already the architect of Slovenia's qualification with another memorable match in the pre-Olympic final in Lithuania.
In the Zalgiria pavilion in Kaunas, before 15,000 spectators who supported the Lithuanian team, Doncic led Slovenia to victory (86-95) with a triple-double, 31 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists, something very difficult to see in basketball in which games last eight minutes less than in the NBA.
The Mavericks point guard said he was enjoying the atmosphere of the Olympics despite the restrictions due to the pandemic: “I like being a star of the Games; I feel good being one of the stars, if I am. " Later, he joked with Slovenian journalists: "I'm taking a lot of photos, yes, but there could be more." He admitted that it is difficult for the team to get to the dining room because of the number of people who stop it. But he also revealed that there is someone more persecuted than him: "The one who takes the most photos is Djokovic." Slovenia and Serbia sleep in the same building.
Argentina will be the next rival of Spain, this Thursday (14.00).
Slovenia will be the third Spanish rival on Sunday, August 1 (10.20).
The tournament is made up of three groups with four teams each.
The first two of each group and the best two third parties qualify for the quarterfinals.
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