Luka Doncic's fiancee Anamaria Goltes reacts to Slovenian star writing firstborn Gabriela's name on game-day sneaker
Luka Doncic made a nice gesture before today's game between Slovenia and Greece. The Dallas Mavericks superstar faced a big challenge against the Greek team led by fellow NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo, where Doncic used a unique source of motivation.
The Basketball Federation of Slovenia's Instagram account shared a video of Doncic writing something on his shoes for today's game. This wasn't a normal pre-game ritual, as Doncic wrote the name of his daughter, Gabriela.
Doncic's fiancee, Ana Maria Goltes, reacted to this gesture, sharing the video on her Instagram story and captioning the post with a red heart emoji.
This isn't the first time Doncic has done this to celebrate his daughter and get extra motivation ahead of games. In December, the regular-season MVP finalist wrote the name of his daughter for the first time on his Jordans with a heart.
The star guard doesn't hesitate to mention the baby on social media and after Game 1 of the first-round series against the LA Clippers, Doncic shared a picture of Gabriela watching him go against the Los Angeles team.
Luka Doncic's Slovenia lost to Greece
As heartwarming as this gesture was, it didn't help Doncic and Team Slovenia. They lost to Team Greece in a blowout game, 96-68.
The game was lopsided from the beginning, with the Greeks starting the game red-hot. They scored 32 points and only allowed Slovenia to drop 14. After showing signs of life in the second quarter, outscoring Greece, Slovenia couldn't make any more noise for the rest of the game. Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded 13 points, four rebounds, two steals and one block.
Other players like Thomas Walkup (19 points) and Vassilis Toliopoulos (17) also excelled in leading Greece to win and one step closer to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Doncic tried to carry Slovenia, putting up 21 points, shooting 7-for-14 from the field, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing five assists. He couldn't take care of the basketball and recorded 10 turnovers, hurting his team's chances to win.
Josh Nebo was the only player to score double digits for Slovenia besides Doncic. He dropped 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
This loss means Slovenia is eliminated from contention to reach the Paris Olympics. After taking his team to the fourth position in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Doncic was ready to do the same this year.