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Luka Doncic and the Slovenian national team defeated Lithuania 96 to 85 in the final of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Luka was once again magnificent putting up a triple double in the final with 31 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists.
This game was closer to the playoffs Mavericks version of Luka than the version we have seen internationally so far as Luka had to take a much heavier burden today. Outside of Luka, the Lithuanian team is more talented than the Slovenian team causing Luka to have to do more. Luka was up to the challenge
He was the leading scorer in a much less balanced attack with only 4 Slovenian players in double figures. Luka was also dominant on the boards with no other Slovenian player having more than 5 rebounds. Rugged NBA big men Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valanciunas both had 6 rebounds for Lithuania meaning Luka had nearly twice as many rebounds as any other player on the court.
Luka continued his absolute dominance as a play maker with 13 assists and only 2 turnovers. Slovenia continued a tournament long trend of knocking down open jumpers as a team. They shot 13 of 31 from 3-point range for 42 percent.
Slovenia was downright dominant in this tournament. They came in as the 16th rated team in the world, which was 3rd highest in this tournament behind Lithuania at 8 and Poland at 13. Their average margin of victory was a whopping 31 points during this tournament with no game being within single digits.
For the tournament as a whole, Luka averaged 21.3 points, 8 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 1.5 steals and only 2.3 turnovers per game. He did this in only 25.5 minutes per game. His percentages were sparkling other than free throws as he shot 55.6 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from 3-point range. He did continue to struggle shooting 64 percent from the free throw line.
It is important to remember how much shorter FIBA games are than NBA games. 8 minutes is 2⁄3 of an NBA quarter. These numbers are just baffling in such a short amount of time. However, Luka has shown that he can continue to dominate in any setting.