Doncic on fire to stop Venezuela's rain of threes

OKINAWA (Japan) - Big thanks to Luka Doncic, Slovenia overcame the gallant stand of Venezuela, 100-85, to start their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 campaign on a high note before an appreciative crowd that filled up the Okinawa Arena here, Saturday night.

 

Turning point: The Venezuelans were breathing down the Slovenians' necks in the first half behind 12 of their 16 3-pointers, but Luka Doncic joined hands with Mike Tobey to string together nine consecutive points for a 71-57 lead with 5:16 to go in the third quarter.

 

The team from South America didn't go down without a fight, but there's only so much they could do. Another Doncic bucket plus a clean-up job by Klemen Prepelic gave the European side a 98-82 lead with only 1:11 left to play, more than enough to secure the victory.

TCL Player of the Game: Doncic impressed in his World Cup debut as he finished with a game-high 37 points on 61-percent field goal shooting, along with 7 rebounds, and 6 assists. He also collected 2 steals and a block in nearly 31 minutes for an efficiency rating of 39.0.

 

There have been many all-around top-tier debuts just in the first two days of the FIBA Basketball World Cup and Luka's brilliance here is another one added to the list.

 

 

Stats don't lie: Aside from Doncic, Tobey was undeniably a major part of Slovenia's successful debut as he went a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor to finish with 21 points, together with 5 boards. The team, as a whole, made 59-percent of its shots, highlighted by 11 from beyond the arc.

Bottom line: Slovenia have now gained a share of the Group F leadership with Georgia, which dominated Cape Verde, 85-60, earlier in the night. The two teams from Europe will vie for the no. 1 seed of the pool when they lock horns on Monday, August 28, at 20:30 local time.

They said: "We knew it was gonna be a very difficult game. We played against Venezuela two years ago [Olympic Qualifying Tournament]. They were a very physical team, and they can shoot the ball very well. It wasn't an easy game. We had to fight 'til the end. IN the end, we got the win." - Luka Doncic, Slovenia

"We followed a great deal our game plan. Still, Doncic scored - he basically scores against the whole world. And, Mike Tobey was 100-percent from the field, scoring 3-for-4 from behind the arc. We chose our options and we followed the game plan, we executed well, but in order for us to to win this kind of ball games, we need to execute in an excellent way. We couldn't." - Fernando Duro, Head Coach, Venezuela

Press conference

 

FIBA