On the second day of the Basketball World Cup, the top favourites also played their part: Team USA outclassed New Zealand, while Luka Doncic led Slovenia to a successful start earlier on
Luka Doncic made an impressive World Cup debut to lead his Slovenians to their first win of the preliminary round in Okinawa. The 24-year-old Dallas Mavericks point guard collected 37 points in a 100-85 (56-51) win over Venezuela on Saturday.
Doncic, in the absence of numerous stars such as Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) and Kevin Durant (USA), is seen as the figurehead of this World Cup, which is being held in Indonesia and the Philippines as well as Okinawa, Japan. He already excelled at his Olympic debut in 2021, when he scored 48 points.
In front of 6,389 fans, the 24-year-old was particularly effective in the zone, only his three-point percentage (25 per cent) had room for improvement. Slovenia’s next opponent is Georgia on Monday (13.30 CEST/MagentaSport), who started the tournament with an 85-60 win over the Cape Verde Islands.
Duell with the DBB team?
Ex-European champions Slovenia are a possible intermediate round opponent for the German team. A duel between Doncic and Germany would take place next Friday or Sunday, if both advance. Only the top two teams from the two groups will make it to the final round, which takes place in Manila and starts with the quarter-finals. Slovenia have three feasible group opponents in Venezuela, Cape Verde and Georgia.
Banchero leads the way for the US boys
Top favourite USA also got off to a winning start. Head coach Steve Kerr’s team held off New Zealand 99-72. The best scorer was young star Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic with 21 points. Go-to-guy Anthony Edwards added 14 points and seven rebounds.
Greece, meanwhile, held on without Giannis Antetokounmpo to beat Jordan 92-71. Giannoulis Larentzakis of Olympiakos Piraeus was the top scorer for the Hellenes with 19 points.
The second most points in the World Cup tournament so far after Latvia’s 109 on Friday were scored by Serbia, who triumphed 105-63 in their opening match against China. In Quezon in the Philippines, five players from the winning team scored in double figures, including Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks (14).
In Saturday’s final game, again in Jakarta, Spain dispatched Côte d’Ivoire 94-64. Here Willy Hernangomez of FC Barcelona broke the 20-point barrier (22).
