Despite being clear favorites, Slovenia lost their EuroBasket opener against hosts Poland by a wide margin. Luka Doncic is not to blame. Things went better for the three Antetokounmpo brothers and Greece, however.
After five defeats in six warm-up games, the mood in the Slovenian camp was already room for improvement before the European Championship. Now NBA superstar Luka Doncic and Co. have also suffered their first defeat in the European Championship tournament.
They took the lead for the first time shortly before halftime (46:45) against host Poland. However, this did not last long. Led by the brilliant Jordan Loyd (32, 9/14), the hosts pulled away by double digits for the first time after the break. The visitors also had no answer to the intense drives of Mateusz Ponitka (23, 8/12).
Slovenia’s star player Luka Doncic fought hard to avoid defeat. In front of the Lakers’ management (Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka), the guard scored 34 points on 7/14 shooting and 17/18 free throws.
Greece, led by NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, narrowly won its EuroBasket opener against Italy. The Southern Europeans led throughout the game, but were never able to pull away decisively. This was partly because Italy forced 16 turnovers and recorded 12 more shots than its opponent.
So why did the Greeks still dominate the game? Giannis Antetokounmpo! The Milwaukee Bucks player scored an impressive 31 points (14/20) and grabbed seven rebounds in 29 minutes. His brothers Kostas and Thanasis also played more than ten minutes each.
On the Italian side, former Albatross Matteo Spagnolo (Virtus Bologna) scored ten points (4/10). Nicolo Melli added 15 points.
