Luka Doncic, Slovenia Counting on 'Experience & Right Energy' vs. Talented Canada
Heading into Wednesday morning's FIBA World Cup quarterfinals matchup against a Canada squad filled with NBA talent, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic and Slovenia have their work cut out for them. Before the quarterfinals round officially began on Tuesday, with Team USA dismantling Italy and Serbia defeating Lithuania, Slovenia only had the sixth-best odds of winning the World Cup out of the remaining eight teams.
Although Canada has the edge when it comes to overall talent, Slovenia is counting on their recent Olympics and EuroBasket experience to help them find a way to win.
“[It will be] an emotion-evoking game, extremely important," Slovenian guard Jaka Blazic said. "But our generation has already won two important quarterfinals at the EuroBasket and the Olympics, so we have some positive experience, and that's how we're approaching tomorrow's game – with the right energy, the right mood.”
FIBA
No matter how much of a talent advantage Canada might have, Slovenia will have a legitimate chance to pull off the upset simply by having a player of Doncic's status on the roster. Doncic is the best player in the World Cup, and when he's on the floor, there will always be a chance to win.
Many will try to make Wednesday's matchup about Doncic facing off against fellow All-NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and that will surely be a subplot to focus on, but both stars won't be paying attention to any of that, as they just want to help their teams advance to the World Cup semifinals.
"No, it's a Canada vs. Slovenia game," Gilgeous-Alexander said when asked about Wednesday's game turning into a 'Shai vs. Luka' duel. "I'm trying to do anything to win that game."
According to BetMGM, Slovenia is an 8.5-point underdog against Canada. Stay tuned to DallasBasketball.com for full coverage of the game and much more live from Manila in the coming days.
