Luka Doncic in Luka Doncic mode. The character of Slovenia, the big star of the World Cup without Serbian Jokic and Greek Antetokounmpo, with whom he shared the Eurobasket catwalk but was absent from that event, opened the dance with another day at the office in his exhibition sampler: 37 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists lead Slovenia’s win over Venezuela 100-85. The Dallas Mavericks star was his team’s player with the most minutes on the line, nearly 31. In doing so, he opened a World Cup as he seeks to redeem himself from the painful loss in the quarterfinals of the last European Basketball Championship to Poland from a gray course in the NBA, outside of the title playoffs.
In this Group F, Cape Verde wrote an unforgettable page in its history by becoming the country with the smallest population (about 600,000 inhabitants) to host a basketball World Cup game. There was a 60-85 loss to Georgia, but Walter Tavares and his teammates will remain the heroes of this episode. The Real Madrid center only scored six points despite catching 12 rebounds, which is the leader in this statistic. Georgia had a vastly superior arsenal, with Shengelia (returning to the team after an injury-related absence at the last EuroBasket) being the most outstanding team with 16 points and 7 rebounds.
The Cinderella story would take center stage in South Sudan, an independent country in 2011 that became the first African team to qualify for a World Cup on the first try. His debut was a resistance exercise against Puerto Rico, who needed overtime to earn a 96-101 win. The Bulls’ Sudanese point guard Carlik Jones stood out with 38 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists.
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United States, like Doncic, to his own. Easy win against New Zealand (99-72) en route to yet another recapture. After finishing seventh at the last World Cup in China in 2019, their worst-ever finish at a World Cup, the 12 newcomers, led by Steve Kerr, are looking to muster their individual brilliance to reclaim the gold lost by their compatriots in 2010 and won in 2014. American team, Paolo Banchero added 21 points. Serbia defeated China 105-63 with five players (Bogdanovic, Marinkovic, Ristic, Avramovic and Milutinovic) scoring 10 or more points.
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