FIBA Film Study: How Mavs' Luka Doncic 'Took Matters Into Own Hands' vs. Georgia

Mavs superstar Luka Doncic put together another dominant performance in Slovenia's FIBA World Cup win over Georgia. Watch our in-depth breakdown.

OKINAWA, Japan — In Slovenia's second game at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic proved instrumental in the 88-67 victory over Georgia. He recorded 34 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, and three steals along the way.

Doncic was dominant in punishing mismatches as Georgia often decided to switch, but avoided committing two to the ball early in ball screen coverage as much as possible. The elite scoring and passing ability of Doncic picked the defense apart with a size advantage against smaller guards and the shiftiness to break down bigs out in space that attempted to hold their own. 

"Luka took matters into his own hands, especially when they were switching on him," Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic said of Doncic. "He felt that he could play against their bigs, so we took advantage of this. The most important thing in this situation is that all five players were on the same page helping Luka, and in the end, they were getting open shots because of him."

"With Luka, what we have is this versatility," Sekulic explained. "We can attack different defensive setups and alignments, and that's how we try to attack each team. We try to read what they do and to attack their weaknesses."

FIBA

The very physical Georgia squad struggled to keep Doncic and Slovenia from getting to the free throw line. Doncic shot 13-17 (76.5 percent) from the line, while Slovenia was 25-33 (75.8 percent) as a team compared to Georgia going 13-19 (68.4 percent). In terms of shooting splits, Doncic shot 9-20 (45 percent) from the floor, 3-9 (33.3 percent) on 3s, and 6-11 on 2s (54.5 percent). 

An in-depth breakdown of Doncic's performance against Georgia can be viewed in the embedded video below. Subscribe to my channel for more content about Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks throughout the FIBA World Cup and the 2023-24 NBA season.

As a result of producing a second straight game with 30 or more points, Doncic joined Luis Scola, Kevin Durant, and Larry Ayuso as the only players to score 30+ in consecutive World Cup games since 2000. Doncic has gotten off to a start worthy of a player to receive MVP of the tournament. 

Slovenia is set to advance to the next stage of the World Cup after defeating what was the only other 1-0 team in Group F. Among opponents Doncic will face includes his Mavs teammates Josh Green and Dante Exum with Australia, along with Germany.