EuroBasket GAMEDAY: Can Doncic, Slovenia Secure Group Win vs. France?

Luka Donic will try to lead Slovenia to the top of EuroBasket's Group B with a win over France.

Dalton Trigg | Sep 7, 2022

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

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The last time Slovenia took on France in international play was in the medal round of the Tokyo Olympics last year. Despite a 16-point, 10-rebound, 18-assist triple-double from Luka Doncic, Slovenia lost to Rudy Gobert and France, 90-89. Doncic got a little bit of revenge back in the U.S., though, as the Dallas Mavericks eliminated Gobert's Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA playoffs ... which ultimately led to Utah trading Gobert.

Now, 13 months after their Olympics match, the two teams will meet up once again – this time in the final game of EuroBasket 2022 group play. If momentum from Tuesday's EuroBasket action can carry over, we could be in for yet another classic.

WHAT TO WATCH: After leading Slovenia to a payback 88-80 win over Germany on Tuesday with a 36-point performance, Doncic will now try to do the same against France's defense. Gobert gave Doncic problems in their Olympic matchup, holding him to just 5-18 shooting from the field. With a hurt wrist, Doncic was determined to drive more in the win vs. Germany. That will be a tougher task to accomplish vs. France, though.

With a win, Slovenia would win EuroBasket's Group B, as they would hold the tiebreakers over both Germany and France. However, with a loss, Slovenia could still finish as low as fourth in the group. Either way, Doncic and Slovenia will still advance to the knockout round.

WHO: SLOVENIA VS. FRANCE

WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022 at 10:15 a.m. CT

LOCATION: Koln Arena (Koln, Germany)

TV: ESPN+, Courtside 1891

ODDS: As of 11:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday night, Slovenia is 2.5-point favorites against France.

LAST WORD: “My teammates pushed me," said Doncic after the big win over Germany. "I haven’t had a good game since I’ve been here, so my teammates have helped me a lot. It was a really big game for us, but like I said, the whole team played great. That’s how we should play, be aggressive.”

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Published Sep 7, 2022

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.