Slovenia 94-70 Germany: 5 Takeaways as Luka Doncic and co. enter the semifinals of Olympics 2021
Slovenia defeated Germany in a 94-70 win in the quarter-finals of the 2021 Olympics on Tuesday. Luka Doncic led a balanced attack for the Slovenians who had a strong second half that allowed them to pull away from the Germans in the end.
It was a highly competitive match early on, even as Slovenia took a double-digit lead. Team Germany rallied from that deficit in the first quarter and led briefly by two, before Slovenia regained the lead seconds later.
Slovenia have now advanced to the men’s basketball semifinals with their win over Germany in the 2021 Olympics.
Here are the 5 takeaways from the exciting matchup between Slovenia and Germany:
#1 Luka Doncic had another all-around game
Slovenia will go where Luka Doncic goes. Despite a not-so-good shooting performance (8-of-18 from the field; 2-of-7 from 3-point range), Doncic was in full control of the offense and Germany had no answer for his overall court awareness.
The 22-year-old finished with 20 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds to bring Slovenia one step closer to Olympic gold for the first time since it became a participant in the basketball tournament. Doncic started off slowly but eventually found his groove in the second half.
The Dallas Mavericks star couldn’t repeat the 48-point explosion he achieved in his Olympic debut, but it didn’t matter. Doncic's ability to distribute the ball and score whenever he wanted to was enough to confound Germany and give Slovenia another win.
#2 Slovenia outhustled and outplayed Germany
Though Doncic receives most of the credit, the Slovenians had contributions from almost their entire roster against Germany. All of their starters contributed at least eight points and gave the Germans a tough time figuring out who to guard.
Germany’s defense held up at times, but quick decision-making from Slovenia made it difficult for them to focus on just one player. Led by Doncic, the Slovenians consistently found seams in the opposition defense as the Germans were a step slower in covering for their teammates’ miscues.