Doncic scores 39 points but Slovenia lose again at EuroBasket against France, Serbia advance
RIGA: Luka Doncic scored 39 points but Slovenia (0-2) lost again at EuroBasket after France’s deep bench proved too much for the Los Angeles Lakers star’s team on Saturday.
France’s 103-95 win came two days after Doncic had scored 34 points in Slovenia’s 105-95 defeat to co-host Poland. His outing against France put Doncic over 1,000 career points for Slovenia.
Point guard Sylvain Francisco came off the bench to lead France with 32 points in the game played in Katowice, Poland. France improved to 2-0 in Group D.
Doncic made 19 of 20 free throws, grabbed eight rebounds and had nine assists, but it wasn’t enough as Francisco helped fuel 78 points by France’s bench players, compared to just 26 from Slovenia’s.
Washington Wizards pair Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr combined for 25 points to help pace France, with 12 points from Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks.
American-born guard Jordan Loyd led Poland with 27 points and came through in the clutch to edge Israel 66-64 to improve to 2-0.
Lloyd led Poland with 27 points, including 5-of-8 3-pointers. He scored 10 of Poland’s final 13 points, including a putback of his own shot with 13 seconds left to give his team the win.
Deni Avdija of the Portland Trailblazers had 23 points for Israel (1-1).
Also in Group D, Belgium overcame a seven-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat Iceland 71-64 and improve to 1-1. Iceland is 0-2.
Jokic puts Serbia into knockout phase from Group A
Nikola Jokic scored 39 points, including the final two points of the game from the free-throw line, to help Serbia edge Latvia 84-80.
The Denver Nuggets star had 10 rebounds and four assists. His record points total bettered his previous best for Serbia of 32 points.
A 3-0 record in Group A