During their opening game against Venezuela, Luka Doncic was on a mission. He had 37 points, seven rebounds and six assists while shooting 11 of 18 from the field and 13 of 16 from the free throw line.
Although he didn’t have a teammate go perfect from the field this time around against Georgia, the Dallas Mavericks star did more than enough to ensure a 2-0 record and a likely first place finish in their group – as they are to take on lowly Cape Verde in their final game before the knockout stages.
Doncic was absolutely on fire again versus Georgia. He had a double-double with 34 points, 10 rebounds and six assists and did basically anything he wanted on the court in the 88-67 victory.
Luka’s dominance spoiled what would have otherwise been a pretty good night for Georgia’s Sandro Mamukelashvili, who ended the game with 21 points and seven rebounds while shooting 9 of 15 from the field.
Klemen Prepelic helped Doncic out with a bit of scoring again, though, hitting 4 of 7 shots on the way to 15 points. The lesser known Dragic brother, Zoran, also went 5 of 10 from the field on the way to 12 points. If roleplayers can keep finding ways to step up while Doncic carries the heavy lifting, who’s to say that they can’t make a deep run?
The unpredictability of international basketball is certainly on full display, considering that Olympic silver medalists France were unceremoniously dumped out of the group stages after only two games after losing to Latvia in a game where they led for all but the final seconds. Oh, and that’s a Latvian side that didn’t even have Kristaps Porzingis. Bronze medalists Australia were also upset by Germany in a nailbiter of a game.
Doncic’s individual brilliance will certainly always be on display, but now all eyes will be on him as the knockout stages approach.