Slovenia’s exceptional basketball player Luka Dončić drives the German team to despair. In the 88:80 win he managed 36 points and ten rebounds.
Luka Dončić cannot defend Dennis Schröder either Photo: Federico Gambarini / dpa
Before the game, a few scenes from the past were shown on the giant video cube in the Cologne Arena. 18-year-old Luka Dončić was seen winning the 2017 European Basketball Championship for Slovenia. The cheeks were firmer, the tummy smaller, he seemed almost fit. Of the Luka Dončić of the year 2022 weighs 104 kilograms, he likes to smoke and drink a glass of red wine. His body fat percentage is probably well over 15 percent, but what does that mean if Moppelchen still plays basketball like there’s no tomorrow.
In his team’s game against the previously dominant Germans on Tuesday evening, Dončić scored 36 points, hit twelve of 17 two-point shots and grabbed ten rebounds – cheered euphorically by dozens of fans wearing their blue Dončić jersey with the number 77 in who had once again worn a sold-out arena.
The end result was an 88-80 for the tournament favorite and the realization that this man from the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA is unstoppable if he means business. He had worn out half the German team. First Franz Wagner defended against him, then Niels Giffey, followed by Johannes Thiemann and Dennis Schröder. They couldn’t get a handle on the man of the evening.
He sometimes fooled the latter so meanly that the duped person briefly lost his nerve and suffered a technical foul. It was Dončić himself who recaptured and calmed Schröder. Dončić was assisted in organizing the Slovenian game by his NBA colleague Goran Dragic, who plays impressively fast in his old age. Unlike Dragic, Dončić is not an athlete, certainly not, but he still collects baskets like a busy bee.
wondrous movement
He moves to the basket with a retarding moment, spirals almost leisurely into the zone, somehow muddles through with a red head and, at the end of his excursion, magics the ball in with a wondrous movement. Murmurs, bonus free throw, MVP shouts. The only drawback: His step-back threesome isn’t going as usual. In tournaments, he only throws a very meager 20 percent, which is why he currently prefers to push his massive body in the direction of the trap. Even at the free-throw line he sloppy around as usual.Nevertheless, the verdict was clear and the homage didn’t just come from his own ranks. “Luka Dončić was incredible, really incredible,” said Maodo Lô. “The way Dončić played on offense is different. He was so dominating.” Lô could hardly believe that the playmaker only had four assists in the duel on the fourth day of the preliminary round: “It felt like 20.” You can’t eliminate the exceptional player, you can only “try to limit him”. said the professional from the German champions Alba Berlin.
When asked what makes Dončić special, Lô replied: “He has a body like Johannes Thiemann, maybe even stronger, and the game overview that you can only imagine for a point guard,” said the 29-year-old: “What should you do it?” Thiemann found: “He is two meters tall and plays as a point guard. It’s a difficult match-up.” For Andreas Obst, the explanation for the first tournament defeat was quite simple – and fateful: “Luka Dončić happened. He just took over the game.”
Dončić then sat at the press conference with chubby red cheeks, from which he repeatedly wiped the sweat with a towel as if he were sitting in a sauna, with the air conditioning running. He praised his team, which, in contrast to the recently lost World Cup qualifying match against the Germans, grabbed the rebound. “I’m proud of this team,” he said, trying to spread the compliments among all colleagues. One wanted to know if he could become the player who could score the most points in one game at this tournament. Nah, that’s probably Giannis Antetokounmpo’s thing. The Greek has recently recorded 41 points. Why? “Because it’s Giannis,” Dončić said, grinning mischievously.
Dončić has just signed a five-year, $215 million deal with Dallas. He can count himself lucky that he didn’t have a contract like that of Zion Williamson, who also tended to be a moppel. The New Orleans Pelicans center is rumored to have regular weigh-ins. Nobody dares to do that with Luka Dončić. It would be ridiculous.
