FIBA
Bosnia Hands Luka Doncic First Career EuroBasket Loss
Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic and Slovenia (2-1) failed to reach three consecutive wins in EuroBasket 2022 after losing 97-93 to Bosnia (2-1).
Bosnia began the match with an 8-0 lead, but Slovenia managed to rally back, ultimately holding a 32-26 lead at the end of the opening period. Slovenia was outscored during each of the remaining quarters of the contest.
Both teams traded blows throughout the match with 12 lead changes and 10 times tied. Neither team established a double-figure lead with the greatest advantage for both sides being an eight-point edge. However, Slovenia only spent 12 minutes with a lead in the game despite keeping it close.
In the final period, Slovenia shot just 8-24 (33.3 percent) from the floor and 1-9 (11.1 percent) from beyond the arc. The scoring struggles the team experienced were untimely and resulted in a 25-20 disparity.
Even despite shooting so poorly in the fourth quarter, Slovenia had a chance to win late — trailing just 93-91 with nearly 45 seconds remaining. A failure to get a defensive stop proved to be too much to overcome and decided the outcome.
Bosnia received strong performances from John Roberson and Dzanan Musa, who combined for 45 points. Additionally, five total players reached double-figure scoring.
Goran and Zoran Dragic each combined for 42 points of their own with Doncic not being far behind with 16 points of his own. However, Slovenia shot just 31.3 percent from 3-point range and was outscored by 15 points in this department.
There was some concern about Doncic's wrist as he was favoring it at times despite already having it taped up.
“I don’t think that’s something big. Probably bothers him a little bit,” Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic said.
Entering Sunday's matchup against Bosnia, Doncic held an 11-0 career record when participating in EuroBasket with Slovenia.
Slovenia will look to bounce back on Tuesday when they take on Franz Wagner and Germany. It will start a challenging back-to-back sequence with France being their scheduled matchup on Wednesday, just one day later.
You can follow Grant Afseth on Twitter at @GrantAfseth.
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