Canada frustrates Luka Doncic, beats Slovenia to reach FIBA World Cup semis

According to FIBA, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the first player with more than 30 points and 10 rebounds in a knock-out stage game since 1994. With slithery moves and spins, he hit off-balance shots and outscored and outplayed fellow all-NBA player Luka Doncic.

But SGA wasn’t the main story in Canada’s 100-89 victory over Slovenia to reach the FIBA World Cup semi-finals in Manila, Philippines. Canada’s defense was. They frustrated Doncic into making only 8 of 20 shots and getting thrown out in the fourth quarter after his second technical foul.

Doncic felt a lot of Canadian lumber from Dillon Brooks and Lu Dort all night. He sometimes saw SGA picking him up at midcourt and then switching with bigger defenders such as his Dallas teammate Dwight Powell.

To get to the rim, Luka had to fight through double or triple teams, and even four defenders at times. Canada pushed him to the sidelines into traps. “We have two high-level defenders, two of the best in the world at their positions,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “We just wanted to keep throwing bodies at him, keep throwing him different looks. Obviously, a player of that calibre, you want to keep mixing things up for him.”

“It was very physical. I think Dillon played great, he was very physical like he always does,” said Doncic, who had 25 points and 5 assists. “A lot of people don’t like him but I respect him for what he does and he does that stuff really good.”

Serbian journalists sitting courtside said Doncic swore toward officials, claiming that the referees weren’t giving him enough respect. “I think everybody knows what my frustration was,” said Doncic after the game. “Playing for the national team, it’s a lot of emotions. A lot of times I had to control myself, which I’ve been having problems with.”’

The first half, with each team scoring 50 points, saw 18 lead changes.

Feeding off their defense, Canada (sparked by 13 from Barrett) scored 30 in the third quarter and led by as much as 16. RJ Barrett slashed and gashed Slovenia’s defense, notching 13 in the quarter and 24 points on the night along with 9 rebounds.

“I think that we’re showing that we’re such a hard-working team that when we come together and do the right things and listen to what coach is telling us to do, we can be special,” said Barrett. “I think what you see from our team is it can be anybody. Of course Shai is the head of the snake, he’s always going to do what he does. But just in terms of everybody else, last game it was Dillon. The game before that Lu [Dort] played well. It could be anybody on our team that has that night and I think that’s one of our strengths.”