Without context, Luka Dončić’s view heading to the locker room at the end of the first quarter with his close coach would have been disturbing. Without context, grimacing at each stage, the fence with each movement would have been the story of the round match on Sunday 16 in the Eurobasket championships.
But this race in the changing rooms, the fence and the Grimacing, came after Dončić gave a blow so violent to the opposite defense that everything that disturbs the superstar Slovene did not have much effect.
Dončić scored 22 points in the first quarter, later returning to finish another performance of 40 points Eurobasket and finish Italy, 84-77, to go to the quarter-finals of the tournament. Dončić scored 42 points to go with 10 rebounds and three interceptions.
This is his second 40 -point game in Eurobasket Play and his most score match of the tournament so far. He runs the score tournament, with an average of 34.0 points per game.
Slovenia will face Germany, one of the rare teams best classified to avoid an upheaval during the first elimination round in Eurobasket. The Serbia team of Nikola Jokić, as well as France and the accommodation of Latvia, did not survive the weekend.
Dončić opened the Sunday match against Italy with a pair of flights, another area where its improvement in physical condition arose on the field. However, after the second flight, he tried to trigger a quick break and collided with an Italian player, instantly seeming that he was in pain.
Despite the obvious lameness, Dončić still managed to separate from the Italian defense, using his speed first, to go to the painting before finally going back to the 3 -point line.
After the first quarter of 22 points, Dončić returned to the Slovenian changing rooms for his quad muscle to have extended, said a league source said Athletics. He was able to return to the second quarter and finished with 30 points in the first half.
And while Slovenia almost coughed the match in the second half, with the goalkeeper of Miami Heat Simone Fontecchio who shot Italy in things, Dončić closed him on the line of fault, where he made 15 of the 16 attempts. It is 74 for 83 of the free throw line for the tournament (89.1%). Dončić never finished an NBA season better than 79% of the free throw line.
Germany, ranked n ° 3 in the world entering the tournament, has won each of its matches in the tournament by at least 19 points so far.
(Photo of Luka Dončić in international action in August: Jurij Kodrun / Getty Images)
