Luka Doncic's 36 Points Leads Slovenia Over Germany

Luka Doncic and Slovenia improve to 3-1 in EuroBasket 2022 with his 36 points being critical in their win over Germany.

Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic and Slovenia sought to bounce back from a loss to Bosnia and managed to do so against Germany with an 88-80 win on Tuesday. They improve to 3-1 in EuroBasket 2022 play.

There was a clear urgency from Doncic to set the tone, and he did so early and often. He led with 36 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists while shooting a staggering 12-17 (70.6 percent) on two-point field goals.

Doncic's impact is reflected in how Slovenia controlled the game early and often. After taking a 4-2 lead at the 7:02 mark of the opening period, Slovenia held the lead over Germany for the remainder of the game. 

“My teammates, they pushed me,” Doncic said, via Dallas Morning News. “I hadn’t had a good game since I’ve been here, so my teammates helped me a lot. It was a really big game for us, but the whole team played amazing, as I said. This is how we should play, being aggressive.”

Perhaps most challenging of all for Slovenia was playing against Germany in their home country. Doncic made it clear that his team knew it would take a concerted effort from unit as a whole.

“It was [a] really hard game,” Doncic said. “It’s really hard to play against Germany in Germany with 18,100 people.”

A common sentiment from Germany's roster felt that "Luka Doncic happened" and that was the cause for their loss. Instead, Doncic credited the whole team for getting the job done. 

“Everybody was playing amazing, fighting for every possession,” Doncic said. “Luka Doncic didn’t happen. Slovenia happened.”

Slovenia will return to action on Wednesday when they take on France at 10:15 a.m. CDT. The game can be streamed on the ESPN+ app. 

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You can follow Grant Afseth on Twitter at @GrantAfseth.

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