Dallas Basketball

Mavs Coffee Talk: Luka Doncic Beats Jokic in Slovenia Win Over Serbia

Luka Doncic helped Slovenia remain undefeated this summer as EuroBasket 2022 nears.

Dalton Trigg

Before Slovenia and Serbia tipped off their friendly match on Wednesday afternoon, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic and his two-time MVP buddy Nikola Jokic went out for coffee together.

"I'm looking forward to playing in a full arena,” Doncic told Serbian media before the match. “Serbia is exceptionally strong team, so that will be a big challenge for us. I can't wait to meet Jokic. He's incredible player. I respect him as a person. We will go for a coffee before the game."

After that, though, it was all business, as Doncic led Slovenia to a 97-92 overtime win over Serbia. In 35 minutes of action, Doncic finished with 34 points, six rebounds, nine assists and one block while shooting 11-20 from the field, including 3-9 from deep and 9-14 from the free-throw line.

Not only did Doncic finish with a fantastic stat line, but he did so by being especially mean to his coffee buddy on a handful of occasions, starting with this Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-esque hook-shot.

This wasn’t the first time Doncic brought out the hook-shot this summer, which makes you wonder if he’s truly added it to his “toolbox,” as Dirk Nowitzki’s mentor Holger Geschwindner used to say.

Doncic also had Jokic’s ankles in a bind on the perimeter…

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We don’t know who got the tab at the coffee shop between the two $200+ million men, but regardless, Doncic owes Jokic on their next visit after Wednesday’s performance. Jokic finished with 26 points.

After being criticized for his conditioning last season, Doncic made it a point to stay on top of that this summer, and it appears to be paying off. With a little more than a month left until training camp begins, Doncic looks like he’s in great shape.

Given that EuroBasket 2022 is set to take place from Sept. 1-18, it feels safe to say that Doncic will be ready to hit the ground running when the Mavs play at the Phoenix Suns to open the season on Oct. 19. You can checkout the full schedule breakdown here.

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Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

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