OKINAWA — Australia willingly took the risk.
But it suffered the consequences dearly.
Limiting Luka Doncic was the game plan the Boomers primarily devised in their crucial second-round tiff against Slovenia in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 on Friday night, but the “other guys” made them regret the gamble.
The Aussies bowed out of contention, 80-91.
(C) FIBA.basketball
“That side of it, you’re rolling the dice,” offered head coach Brian Goorjian in the postgame presser at the Okinawa Arena here. “Are we good enough to get that side of it done if we do that with Luka? And that was the gamble.
“We got hurt on that end of it,” he added.
Australia did make it a tough night for Doncic by sending him into foul trouble early. He already had three fouls during the first half, and was one call away from being kicked out of the game with eight minutes to go in the fourth.
“The whole Luka situation, I was pleased with tonight. He’s a tremendous player. When he got into foul trouble, obviously that’s to our advantage. We wanted to get to him in any way we could legally and I thought we did that,” Goorjian said.
The Boomers threw a variety of defenses against the 24-year-old guard, too, similar to what they did to him in their battle for the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics two years ago in which they ultimately succeeded.
But then again, being too focused on Luka backfired, simply put.
It became an opportunity for guys such as Mike Tobey to put up his best all-around outing thus far with 18 points and 12 rebounds for his first World Cup double-double. The naturalized center also dished out five assists.
Shooter Klemen Prepelic came through with 11 points, while Gregor Hrovat added 10 as they helped Tobey in putting together seven straight points toward a 73-64 lead with seven minutes left to play to swing momentum on their side.
(c) FIBA.basketball
Doncic then took over afterwards, presiding over another 8-0 run to widen the gap to 15 before nailing a dagger stepback trey to make it an 88-69 advantage for the Slovenians with 1:55 left to play, all but sealing the deal.
Doncic still ended up as the team’s top scorer with 19 alongside seven rebounds and six dimes, but the win enabled his side to further shed the notion that they can only go wherever the former NBA Rookie of the Year takes them.
All 10 players fielded by Coach Aleksander Sekulic scored at least two points in the victory, which made them one of the first two teams to qualify for the quarterfinals in Manila, the other being Germany (4-0).
“When he was in foul trouble, I thought that played to our advantage. But again, the key to the game tonight was the other guys. Tobey on the glass, all their perimeter players hitting big threes, dribble penetration and ball movement. The rest of the team really hurt us,” Goorjian lamented.
Now, there’s no other choice for Australia but to move forward following a disappointing campaign, which was surprising, to say the least, since the team made it all the way to the semifinals of the previous World Cup in China.
Not to mention the bronze finish in the last Olympics as well.
“It starts now, the preparation for the Olympics,” said Goorjian, as they now shift their sights to the 2024 Paris Olympics. “We learned a lot, and I think we’re in the process of change, in style of play both offensively and defensively.
“We’re all disappointed, but I’m excited about where this thing can go,” added the 70-year-old bench tactician, who’s set to appear in his fourth Olympics. “Definitely, a clearer picture after playing in this tournament.”
