In the EuroBasket, every point matters, and that means that players are trying to score until the clock hits zero, no matter if they're winning or losing. That's what happened when France and Slovenia played, but things took a turn in the final seconds.
Luka Doncic shook hands with French guard Sylvain Francisco, and besides letting the clock run out, Francisco drove to the basket and scored a layup. The Slovenian team then surrounded Francisco, and it looked like they were getting into a shouting match. Everyone ended up dispersing after a while.
Francisco was apologetic after the game when he was asked about the incident, according to Basketnews.
“I said I was sorry,” Francisco said to reporters. “I actually went to shake hands and go to the layup like I said to Luka. The only thing that I really regret is just shaking hands — I should have told him, ‘Nah, play defense,' because I was going for a tie.
“You know, we've got point differential, which is really important in EuroBasket, and that's why it just clicked in my head. At the end of the day, I would never do that, but I take full responsibility for it, and I just gotta move forward.”
Doncic didn't think that Francisco was going to score after they shook hands.
“At the end we shook hands. The point difference can be important, but we shook hands. I didn’t think he’d go and score again,” Doncic said.
It seems like both teams have moved on now, and they're continuing to compete against the other teams in the Eurobasket. Doncic has definitely moved on, and in Slovenia's recent game against Belgium, he became the fourth player ever to record a triple-double in EuroBasket.
This is no surprise coming from a player with a skill set like Doncic, and it wouldn't be a surprise if he had more up his sleeve in the future.
