Slovenia’s Luka Doncic chose his native country over representing Spain, and now he goes up against them in the Eurobasket semi-finals on Thursday.
He had a career-high 27 points as he led Slovenia to a 103-97 win over Latvia in the quarter-finals.
Speaking to Greek television, the 18-year-old admitted that he was almost in tears after the final buzzer.
“It’s a dream for me,” Doncic said.
“I was almost in tears after the game. It’s a historic win for our national team. I am proud to be here, I am proud to be Slovenian and play in this Eurobasket.”
Doncic certainly came up with clutch shots to guide Slovenia to the win, including four free throws in the final 20 seconds. He also hit a huge three-pointer, that he banked in, and he admitted that he learned his heroics to fallen team-mate Sergio Llull, who will miss the entire EuroLeague season with a torn ACL.
“I was lucky but I also had confidence that it will go in,” Doncic said about his deep three-pointer late on.
“And also I learned this from Sergio (Llull), he always makes these kinds of shots.”
