PIRAEUS (Greece) - Triple-double against Lithuania in 2021. Triple-doubles against Croatia and New Zealand in 2024. When it comes to FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, Luka Doncic just switches through gears and come up with historic figures.
Now, those figures face their toughest test to date. A game against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the rest of the home crowd favorites, Greece, in the Semi-Finals in the Peace and Friendship Stadium.
Slovenia were in danger of not making the final four, which Gregor Hrovat phrased as ten months without seeing each other, a true testament to the family feeling in their locker room. It was Hrovat who helped Doncic out against New Zealand, claiming a 26-point win.
Good enough to advance. Not good enough to steal first place from Croatia.
"It wasn't fair towards my teammates." - Luka Doncic
"I always say, you can learn a lot from games like that one. I came into the game with no energy, and this wasn't fair towards my teammates. Now I fixed it, that's why we won," Luka Doncic found inspiration in that defeat to Croatia to explain the win over the Tall Blacks.
Players like Luka, recognized as global icons, just have a different kind of approach to their trade. They are always searching for perfection. Even in back-to-back triple-double performances.
Against Croatia, Luka was upset because his shooting percentage was poor, and because they lost. Against New Zealand, one of the first things he addressed was the missed three-pointer at the buzzer, which would've sent Slovenia to the top of the group had it gone in.
"I screwed up that last shot when I missed it. But our goal was to reach the Semi-Finals, we'd have to go through Greece one way or another."
Playing against Greece, the world gets to see the clash of superstars, because Giannis Antetokounmpo will be there with 11,000 fans by his side.
But for Luka, this will be a special game because of the other Greek star.
"He was my idol. That's why I wore number seven, and when I couldn't wear seven because it was taken, that's why I have 77," Luka said way back at the NBA All-Star media day in 2022.
He is, of course, talking about the current head coach of Greece, Vasilis Spanoulis.
"Our relationship is full of respect, first of all as a person, and after that as an athlete" - Vasilis Spanoulis
"I just wanna thank him for everything that he brought to basketball, not just to me. To a lot of players, he just showed how to play basketball, how to act on the court and what is leadership."
Fast forward to July 2024, and would you believe it, coach Spanoulis had nearly the same answer when he was asked about Luka after Greece's win over Egypt.
"Actually, I didn't see him yet. Our relationship is full of respect, first of all as a person, and after that as an athlete," Kill Bill took a short breath, then continued:
"I don't have to say a lot about Luka as a player, everybody sees that. He's a great idol for a lot of kids, and that's very important nowadays to have these idols, not just as players, but as persons, too."
"We need these kind of examples (like Luka and Giannis) in our society, not just in sports"
Imagine that. Luka once dubbed Spanoulis as his idol, and now Spanoulis is talking about Luka being an idol to others.
"I am very happy that we have a great superstar like Giannis on our team. who is also a great person, a great leader, and is an idol for a lot of kids. We need these kind of examples in our society, not only in sports," the 41-year-old coach explained.
There is no room at the Olympics for all these idols. In fact, there is no room for all of them in the Final of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Greece 2024.
Luka knows what it takes to repeat those 2021 vibes and eliminate another host in front of their own fans.
"We have to play like we played [against New Zealand]. New Zealand are not a bad team, they are shooting and scoring so fast. When Giannis Antetokounmpo shows up on the other side, it will be a different kind of game. We are not the favorites to win, but we have to believe, until the end. We will need a perfect game to win."
For all of us belonging to the neutral part of the audience, it doesn't even matter who will win. We get to see Luka Doncic take on his idol Vasilis Spanoulis.
And that's already a perfect game in our books.
FIBA