Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Doncic had a stellar all-around showing, but it wasn't enough to lift Slovenia past host country Poland at the start of the group play in EuroBasket on Thursday.
Doncic was head and shoulders above the competition with 34 points, four rebounds, nine assists, five steals, and two blocks. Poland, however, did enough down the stretch to hold on to the win, 105-95, in Group D in the capital of Katowice.
The Lakers guard achieved another personal feat by becoming the first player in EuroBasket history to tally at least 30 points, five assists, and five steals.
But while the spotlight was on Doncic, Poland guard Jordan Loyd stressed that getting the victory will always be more important and no tournament is bigger than one player.
“One of the best players in the world will always have a lot of hype, news, and media around him. It’s pretty awesome to be on the court with him and a lot of respect to what he has done, but being on the other side, you use that as energy,” said Loyd in a report from Eurohoops.net.
“As a team, we used that as a motivation. We have to be humble, but on the other side, you’re going to respect us too. Luka is Luka, there’s no more credit and respect I can give to him, but tonight our team was better”.
Poland shot an eye-popping 59% from the field, including 14-of-26 from three-point distance, with seven coming from Loyd.
The 32-year-old playmaker, who was naturalized by Poland just a few days ago, went toe to toe with Doncic. Loyd had a team-high 32 points on top of two assists and two steals. He played 12 games for the Toronto Raptors in the 2018-29 season.
For much of the contest, it looked like a one-man show for Slovenia. Aside from the 26-year-old Doncic, only three players scored at least eight points.
Doncic and Slovenia will try to bounce back on Saturday against France.
