COLOGNE, Germany — Luka Doncic didn’t play his typical stretch of minutes Saturday in the Slovenian national team’s 103-88 win over Hungary in the EuroBasket group stage.
But he still found plenty of time to create ridiculous highlights.
Nutmegging a defender in transition to toss a no-look alley-oop assist and skip around the court?
Yep.
A series of three 3-pointers in the third quarter, punctuated with a call and swish from the mid-court EuroBasket logo?
That, too.
Doncic did a bit of everything in Slovenia’s second game to start this prestigious European championship tournament. In 19 minutes, he tallied 20 points while shooting 8 of 11 from the floor and added seven assists, seven rebounds, one steal and one block.
What a show for the courtside Mavericks’ crew — which included head coach Jason Kidd, general manager Nico Harrison and assistant general manager Michael Finley — and the droves of Slovenia fans who filled the Lanxess Arena sections near the team’s bench and broke out often into “M-V-P” chants for their favorite superstar.
“He doesn’t care if he’s playing Hungary or the final of the EuroBasket,” Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic said. “He’s going to put on a show. .. This is like his playground. He has to have fun.”
Doncic’s standout production allowed Slovenia to coast through the second half — a luxury in the Group B that FIBA has referred to as the “Group of Death” — and rest him for the fourth quarter with the second half of this back to back, Sunday against Bosnia and Herzegovina, looming about 20 hours after the final buzzer.
