Luka Doncic Leads Slovenia to Win Despite Venezuela's Hot Shooting
OKINAWA, Japan — Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic and the Slovenian national team began competition at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup with a physical matchup against Venezuela. He finished with 37 points, seven rebounds, and six assists in the team's 100-85 victory.
"We knew it was gonna be a very physical game," Doncic said. "We played against Venezuela two years ago, and they were a very physical team. They can shoot the ball very well, so it wasn't an easy game. We had to fight the end and win."
With the help of blistering hot 3-point shooting in the first quarter by going 9-13 (69.0 percent), Venezuela held a 33-31 lead over Slovenia. Doncic had recorded 14 points and three assists to this point, but the shotmaking of Venezuela was too much to overcome to hold an advantage.
"They're a very experienced team, very physical, also a talented offense," Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic said of Venezuela. "They, they tried to use their talent and it worked for them in the first half, especially, they were just shooting amazing. Some of the shots were tough, but some of them were a little bit too open. We knew we needed to really step up and in the second half and defend better, which we did."
The defensive approach from Venezuela featured a lot of full-court ball pressure and often guarding straight up without sending help to the paint despite Doncic having a clear size advantage. He took advantage early for finishes on drives, but later on in the opening period, Venezuela deployed some disruptive zone for a stretch and overloaded the strong side for another, but the priority largely was to stay home on shooters.
Doncic went to the bench with Slovenia leading 34-33 early in the second quarter. A stretch of solid execution pushed Slovenia to a 43-36 lead when he checked back in. Shots from deep stopped falling for Venezuela after a scorching hot start earlier.
The momentum sustained for Slovenia after Doncic checked back into the game, but Venezuela prevented separation from being created. In the final few plays before the break, Doncic drilled a step-back 3, then drew a foul on a drive while in the bonus, and made both free throws. A growing lead appeared to be in the cards for Slovenia riding 24 points and four assists from Doncic. However, Venezuela drilled a heave beyond half-court at the buzzer to reduce Slovenia's lead to 56-51.
An impressive set of plays from Doncic helped to spark some momentum in Slovenia's favor midway through the third quarter. He created a no-look dropoff pass to a trailing big by drawing help deep on a semi-transition drive. He then jumped a pass for a transition layup. A made 3 from Mike Tobey extended Slovenia's advantage to double-figures. Slovenia continued to hold the momentum, leading by as many as 15 points at numerous moments.
As the third quarter began to wind down, Doncic went to the bench with his team holding a 14-point lead. The rest of the unit managed to hold its own and avoided giving up a run without their superstar teammate on the floor again, resulting in a 78-63 lead entering the final period. Doncic had recorded 33 points, five rebounds, and five assists to this point.
Doncic checked back into the game midway through the fourth quarter with Slovenia holding a 15-point lead. With the need to put Venezuela away, Doncic offered a steady hand down the stretch to help his team to maintain a double-figure advantage through the final buzzer.
The strategy for Venezuela remained largely consistent by being highly physical, especially against Doncic when he had the basketball. They face-guarded him when he played off-ball and were aggressive in trying to disrupt actions the supporting cast attempted to play out of. Attempting to sustain such an approach for so long against a team with a scorer and playmaker of Doncic's caliber with shooters around him proved to be too much to achieve.
"We followed a great deal our game plan. Still, Luka Doncic scored. He basically scores against the whole world," Venezuela coach Fernando Duro said. "Mike Tobey was one hundred percent from the field, scoring 3-3 from behind the arc. We chose our options and we followed the game plan.
Duro continued: "We executed well, but in order to win these kinds of ball games, you need to execute in an excellent way, and we couldn't."
Slovenia's next matchup will take place on Monday, Aug. 28, against Georgia at Okinawa Arena.
Grant Afseth is a Dallas Mavericks reporter for DallasBasketball.com and an NBA reporter for NBA Analysis Network. He previously covered the Indiana Pacers and NBA for CNHI's Kokomo Tribune and various NBA teams for USA TODAY Sports Media Group. Follow him on Twitter (@grantafseth), Facebook (@grantgafseth), and YouTube (@grantafseth).
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