The Lakeshow Review

Lakers superstar Luka Dončić and Slovenia continued their round of international basketball at the FIBA EuroBasket Tournament as they squared off against rival France early yesterday. Unfortunately for Luka and his side, France pulled away late on their way to a 103-95 victory. It was a closely-contested game for most of its duration, as both teams were tied at 83 apiece at around the three-and-a-half minute mark of the fourth quarter, before France went on an 8-0 run to push their lead to 91-83 with roughly two minutes remaining. At that point, they’d essentially sealed the win, for which Slovenia had no answers as they couldn’t keep up with France’s late game execution. Luka, for his part, was again terrific. He notched a game-high 39 points to go with eight boards and nine dimes, while also collecting two steals. Luka has been superb so far in these international contests, and one could argue that he’s been the best player out of any of the countries currently competing. It’s great to see from a Lakers perspective, and one has to admire Luka’s commitment to representing his country on the global stage. However, Slovenia simply lacks the horses to run with Luka against these more talented European teams, as their record now drops to 0-2 in the round robin stage. They have a long ways to go before they can confidently make any bids of going far into this tournament.

France, their opponent, on the other hand boasts a very talented squad consisting of several NBA standouts. Among these are last year’s number one draft selection Zaccharie Richaser (who scored 12 points), big man Alexandre Sarr (who also added 12 points), and former highly touted international prospect Bilal Coulibaly (who contributed 13 points). For the game, they were led by guard Sylvain Francisco whose team high 32 points, seven rebounds and five assists paced the French side. Slovenia seemingly had no answer for him on ball screen actions. As has been the case so far in these games, teams are zeroing in on Luka when he has the ball in his hands. France was no different as they hounded the Laker’s superstar on every ball screen action, often blitzing and/or sending the early help. Luka did his part to stay aggressive and get himself to the free-throw line, where he connected on nineteen of twenty attempts. He played a great all around game offensively as well, as it’s also worthy to note that Slovenia did a better job of running some off-ball action for Luka, who had success scoring out of pin-downs, But it’s the rest of the roster that’s a problem. They simply lack the consistent stable of complimentary players that can score and defend at a high level (only two other Slovenians scored in double figures). France’s leading scorer, Sylvain Francisco (32 points), was coming off of the heels of a five point outing against Belgium. He also went on to score just 2 points during France’s next contest against Israel. Against Slovenia, he had his way and they had no answers for him. Moving forward, Slovenia will have to do a better job of defending their opponents’ lead guards who have seemingly broke down their defense at will. Their scoring saw a bit of an improvement this game, but in order to have any chance to advance in this tournament, they must up their defensive engagement.

Fortunately for Slovenia, their next contest proved to be a fruitful one as they handily defeated Belgium 86-69. Luka was again great, registering a triple-double with a game-high 26 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. His game had a bit of historical significance, as he finished with just the fourth ever triple-double in FIBA history. He was slightly less efficient in this game going only 9-23 from the field, including a poor 2-11 from three point range. But he was once again the driving force for his side, as only one teammate, Klemen Prepelic, finished in double digits scoring with 12 points. Against a less talented Belgian side, Slovenia did have a much more impressive showing defensively, registering nine blocks and three steals team-wide. Luka was brilliant early, as he looked to stay aggressive on the offensive end and helped push Slovenia’s lead to double digits. He scored both in transition and in isolation, and looked unstoppable during the early portions of the match, producing 19 of his team’s 43 points by halftime. He switched to more of a facilitator role during the latter part of the game, as the team already secured control of the match. The win gave Slovenia its first of group stage play, with their overall record now sitting at 1-2. Their next two games are now likely viewed as crucial, with 0-2 Iceland on the horizon, who they’ll play this Tuesday. Following a sluggish start to the tournament, Slovenia must find a way to emerge victorious in their remaining games if they wish to continue deeper into the EuroBasket Tournament. We’ll see how that plays out.

So far, Luka has looked tremendous. He’s registered at least 25 points in all three of his contests so far, and has also been the leading scorer for all three of them. He looks comfortable, confident, aggressive and highly focused. He’s had success attacking off the dribble, and finishing at the rim. This is something we didn’t see a whole lot of with the Lakers last season. Additionally, his footwork looks superb. He’s been scoring on a healthy amount of post-ups and his fadeaway looks sharp. It’ll be interesting to see how this transitions into the NBA season. He’s been masterful on ball screens, even though he’s being doubled on most of them. He continues to turn the corner or split the double, in addition to leveraging his size to occasionally pass over the defense to the open roller. The only low point so far has been the tree point shooting, as thus far he’s only made nine of his 30 looks from deep (putting him at about 30%). This could be due to the fact that he’s settling for mostly tough shots, as no other player on his team truly commands the gravity to dissuade opponents from doubling him on the ball. I suspect he’ll get better quality looks from deep when playing for the Lakers, but it is something to keep an eye on. The playmaking and rebounding are also there, the latter of which is especially encouraging seeing how little help he currently has with Slovenia. His native side will certainly need every bit of Luka’s brilliant play to continue moving forward, as they need to start collecting some wins if the look to keep advancing in the tournament. But so far, he’s looked like one of, if not the best player in the tournament, which is is a great thing to see if you’re a Lakers fan. Hopefully he continues to have a clean bill of health (knock on wood), and continues to showcase his dazzling exhibition of international brilliance. If so, maybe the Slovenians might have a shot at making some serious noise. In the meantime, Go Lakers and Go Slovenia.