PIRAEUS (Greece) - It's scorching hot in Greece these days, but Dario Saric and usual suspect Luka Doncic didn't offer a duel under the sun to the lucky fans in the Peace and Friendship Stadium, but rather a rare basketball treat: Both the Croatia captain and Slovenia captains posted triple-doubles in the same game on Tuesday night.
Saric, who notched 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, was the one that left the arena with a big smile though, as Croatia prevailed 108-92 in the game that lifted the curtain on Group B action in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Piraeus.
"He's our leader on the court, our captain, our glue guy, who connects everything together. He led us on out there, but this was nothing unusual that he did it," Ivica Zubac praised the hero.
"When he's playing the 'four' position with the ball in his hands and he's creating, I consider him one of the best if not the best power forward in Europe. He showed it today," coach Josip Sesar added.
This was the Croatia captain's first ever triple-double game with the senior national team. He had of course made something of a habit of it at youth level.
Doncic, on the other hand, is by now used to filling up the statsheet this way - he has posted 86 career triple-doubles in the NBA since joining the Dallas Mavericks in 2018 - and on Tuesday he finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
The captain of Slovenia was until Tuesday the only player since 2008 to have posted a triple-double in a FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. On July 4, 2021 he came up with a famous statline of 31 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists to lead his team to a 96-85 win over Lithuania and a spot in the Tokyo Olympics.
FIBA