The 2022 EuroBasket was said to be between 3 national teams that employ generational superstars. The first was Serbia, a traditional European powerhouse that had a 2-time NBA league MVP on their roster in Nikola Jokic. Another 2-time MVP took the court for Greece as Giannis Antetokounmpo tried to lead the nation to a EuroBasket title. Finally, we have Luka Doncic in Slovenia.
Both Jokic and Antetokounmpo have been eliminated from this year’s tournament by falling to upset losses in the quarter-finals. Jokic’s Serbia couldn’t keep the fiery Italian national team at bay, losing a close game. The Greek national team was overrun by Germany through Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroder, leading to Giannis also seeing his EuroBasket run end at the quarter-finals stage.
The only one left standing is Luka Doncic’s Slovenia, as they are yet to play their quarter-finals fixture against Poland. Nonetheless, fans are already praising Luka in comparison to Giannis and Jokic for still being in the tournament and being favorites to win it.
The #EuroBasket semi-finals won't have 🇬🇷 Giannis Antetokounmpo and 🇷🇸 Nikola Jokic 🤯 pic.twitter.com/QSyuHad5AL
— BasketNews (@BasketNews_com) September 13, 2022
Greece with Giannis and Serbia with Jokic still haven't been able to win anything. Jokic and Giannis had a very disappointing World cup in 2019, and now both had an even more disappointing Eurobasket. Tremendous players, but it's not easy to win in FIBA, even with great teams.
— Matej Sportinfo (@MatejSportinfo) September 13, 2022
Luka is now officially better than both
— Hardy SZN (@OwnHimLuka) September 13, 2022
A new star is born and we call him Franz… pic.twitter.com/4DZX8nShTb
— FantasyMagic (@jamesabaileyjr) September 13, 2022
The real MVP stays. And he will defend his title with Slovenia. Back to back champs 🇸🇮🏆
— AC66 (@CajziKing66) September 13, 2022
the ruler of europe pic.twitter.com/xEYLI0U950
— x – ∞ rio ranger⁷⁷ ☽☾ #thisismycrew (@BwarkBwark) September 13, 2022
Franz Wagner runs EuroBasket pic.twitter.com/UANzK3zU03
— E2 (@Thats_Dub) September 13, 2022
Greece lost its touch in the 2nd half. Germany got the upper hand and brought the game home. Awesome game anyway from both teams from the beginning
— Soulless (@kindofcatholic) September 13, 2022
After Jokic with Serbia, now Giannis and Greece are leaving Eurobasket early. Slovenia with Doncic still remains, along with France, as the biggest pre-tournament favourites to win the championship.
— Matej Sportinfo (@MatejSportinfo) September 13, 2022
❌ E L I M I N A T E D ❌
🏀 European Basketball > NBA stars ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/zQVCmCgFJT
— Eren 🇹🇷🏆🏆 (@ErenDeColo) September 13, 2022
https://twitter.com/AthleticSlasher/status/1569023820241211392
Wait.. Jokic got eliminated first rd and nobody said anything ? Lmao
— blange00 (@blange00) September 11, 2022
Will Luka Doncic Be Able To Take Slovenia All The Way?
Slovenia knows what it takes to win the EuroBasket after their heroics in 2017. However, the team is way different now. Goran Dragic isn’t leading them like he was in 2017, and Doncic is not the meek 18-year-old taking a backseat to Dragic.
The form of Germany, Spain, and France will be worrisome for the Slovenians, but Luka has already shown that he can beat those teams. He has been leading Slovenia admirably, coming close to breaking scoring records in EuroBasket.
The remaining teams that Slovenia will have to go through are all strong team units that don’t play all their basketball through the stars on their team. That is a strategy that can be neutralized in FIBA competitions, but can anyone even slow Luka Doncic down this tournament? We will find out this week.
