He looked for it in 2022 and did not find it. He came close in 2025, but fell short against France. But now he has it after another exhibition, this time against Belgium and this time to win (86-69)… finally.
Slovenia opened its victory account, but that was anecdotal in the face of Luka Doncic‘s achievement: a fabulous triple-double with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists for a 29 rating. It is the fourth in the history of the tournament after those achieved by Toni Kukoc (15+12+11 in 1995), Rares Mandache (14+11+10 in 2017) and Mateusz Ponitka (26+16+10 in 2022). There was actually another one, by Stojko Vrankovic (12+13 and 10 blocks in 1993), but at that time blocks were not counted as an official statistic and FIBA does not consider it. However, according to all indications, it did exist.
Doncic achieved the triple-double in his lowest scoring game of the tournament, 26 points compared to the 35 he averaged as the leading scorer after two rounds. He will soon return to his 30-point habitat, but he has achieved a new notch in his revolver. His name is already among a select few in the history of EuroBasket.
With 12 of his 26 points, Doncic blew up the game in the second quarter. The first act had ended with equality, 16-10, but with Luka more incisive in the second, Slovenia went into the break dominating, 43-31. For the Slovenians, who were coming off two disappointments against Poland and France, beating Belgium was paramount. Hence the 30 minutes that Luka played, until he had victory in his hand… and also the triple-double.
Luka completed his feat with a pass to Leon Stergar that the 37-year-old Slovenian converted into the player’s 10th assist. He then gave another to Klemen Prepelic and with 2:38 left in the game he sat down never to return. The job was done with the triple-double and with the +21 lead he left his team with.
Doncic finished with 7/12 in two-point shooting and a poor 2/11 in three-point shooting, as well as three steals, four turnovers and four fouls. He was helped by Klemen Prepelic with 12 points, Jan Stergar with nine and Edo Muric with eight. Slovenia now face Iceland and a final against Israel on the last day to finish third in Group D.
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