23-year-old Luka Doncic hasn’t been in the league for very long, but he has already emerged as one of the game’s best players. With averages of 28.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 8.7 assists per game last season, he carried Dallas to the Western Conference Finals before being eliminated by the eventual champs.
As everybody anticipates what kind of season he’ll have this year, he’s giving us all a preview with his performance in Eurobasket 2022.
This weekend, for Team Slovenia, he dropped 35 points to become the first player in 30 years to have three consecutive 30+ Eurobasket games. He also tallied 5 rebounds and 5 assists in the critical win over Belgium.
Luka Doncic refused to let Slovenia lose 😤
35 points
5 rebounds
5 assists
First player to score 30+ in three consecutive Eurobasket games in the last 30 years.pic.twitter.com/4HpfA5Zp0U
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 10, 2022
Luka Doncic Breaks Eurobasket Record Just Days After 47-Point Performance Vs. France
Against France a few days ago, he had an even better showing, scoring 47 points in what was the second greatest performance in Eurobasket history.
That wasn’t the end for the Dallas Mavericks superstar. He kept coming and attacking his rivals, also hitting a step-back 3 on Gobert to confirm he was on his game today. In the end, Luka finished the game with 47 points, setting a record for the 21st century.
With this performance, he surpassed Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 42 points, setting the highest score in a single game in the 2022 edition of this tournament. This is the second-highest single-game scoring in EuroBasket history, only surpassed by Eddy Terrace, who went off with 63 points back in 1957.
It’s really no surprise that Luka is having so much success. Before he was drafted, Luka was lighting up the international basketball scene.
By the time he made the league, he was unimpressed with the scoring difficulty.
“Here [in the NBA] it’s easier to score compared to Europe,” said Doncic in an interview during his rookie season. “In Europe, the court is smaller and here there is the three seconds rule. I think it’s easier to score here.”
As an elite scorer, capable shooter, and expert playmaker, Doncic is a man of many talents, and he can put his fingerprints on a game in many different ways.
Of course, for him, the ultimate goal is not anything to do with Eurobasket. It’s to lift the Mavericks to a championship for the first time in over 10 years. That will obviously be a huge challenge, but Luka seems more than up for the task.
