Mavs' Doncic Leads Slovenia To Olympics Semifinals With Win Over Germany - Can They Win Gold?

Led by Dallas Mavericks megastar Luka Doncic, Slovenia kept up their winning ways by blowing out Germany in Monday night's quarterfinals matchup, 94-70.

Dalton Trigg | Aug 3, 2021

If you don't know how good the Slovenian national team is at basketball, you simply haven't been paying attention. Despite having some of your traditional basketball powerhouses in this tournament, including the United States, Spain and others, Slovenia has proven that they are for real, and they have their sights set on competing for a gold medal if they can get just one more win.

Led by Dallas Mavericks megastar Luka Doncic, Slovenia kept up their winning ways by blowing out Germany in Monday night's quarterfinals matchup, 94-70. Doncic finished the game with 20 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists.

Doncic and Slovenia now advance to the Olympics semifinals to face the winner of France vs. Italy. One more win, and Luka Doncic will be playing for a gold medal, something he's always dreamed of.

Slovenia wasn't regarded as a favorite heading into this tournament, but perhaps they should have been ranked higher than they were, especially when you consider that the team is now 17-0 all-time when Doncic plays in competitive matches. ... another impressive statistic to add to Doncic's basketball resumé that may already be Hall-of-Fame-worthy.

Although Doncic is the driving force behind Slovenia's success, there is more to this team than just him. The Slovenian national team features a handful of players who have taken turns impressing us at times this summer, including big man Mike Tobey, Vlatko Cancar, Zoran Dragic (little brother of Goran Dragic, who might find himself a member of the Mavs with Doncic sooner than later), Klemen Prepelic and Jaka Blazic.

And these guys aren't just winning, they're blowing the doors off of other teams with their 20-plus point tournament point differential as the evidence.

Doncic and Slovenia still have work to do, but with one more win, they could be playing for a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics -- possibly against Team USA if things go the way we think they will -- and that would not only be a major treat for Mavs fans, but basketball fans everywhere.

Čestitam, Luka. Keep making Dallas and your country proud.

Published Aug 3, 2021

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.