Slovenia's Luka Doncic, left, in action against Italy's Mouhamet Diouf during the Eurobasket, European Basketball Championship round of 16 match between Italy and Slovenia at the Riga Arena in Riga, Latvia, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Republished September 07, 2025 - 5:50 PM
Original Publication Date September 07, 2025 - 9:36 AM
RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Luka Doncic seems more than ready for the coming NBA season, after another dazzling show in a EuroBasket Round of 16 game on Sunday.
Doncic — the Los Angeles Lakers star — finished with 42 points in Slovenia's 84-77 win over Italy, a victory that pushed his team to the quarterfinals of the European championships for the third consecutive time. Slovenia won the title in 2017, then reached the quarterfinals in 2022.
Slovenia will play reigning World Cup champion Germany in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
Doncic scored 30 first-half points Sunday, helping stake Slovenia to a 50-40 lead at intermission. Doncic was 9 for 13 from the field in the half — 5 for 5 on 2-pointers, 4 for 8 on 3-pointers — and was 8 for 9 from the foul line. No other Slovenia player had more than four points in the half.
Doncic finished 11 for 19 from the field in 33 minutes, plus was 15 for 16 from the foul line.
Doncic was the leading scorer in the group stage of the tournament, averaging 32.4 points in Slovenia's first five games before the start of the knockout round.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
News from © The Associated Press, 2025