Canada reaches the FIBA Men’s World Cup semifinals for the first time. Luka Doncic and Slovenia may not go to the Paris Olympics.
Three days after qualifying for its first Olympic Games since 2000, Canada’s men’s basketball team defeated Slovenia 100-89 for the best result in World Cup history.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, an All-NBA guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, scored 31 points in the quarterfinal win. RJ Barrett of the New York Knicks added 24 in Manila.
Doncic’s 26 points were not enough for Slovenia, which also bid for the World Cup semifinals.
FIBA WORLD CUP: Schedule, results
He was sent off after picking up a second technical foul – both after arguing with the referees over calls or non-calls – and Canada led 92-77 with 6 minutes, 37 seconds left.
“I think everyone knows what my frustration was,” Doncic said. “Playing for the national team is a lot of emotions. I often don’t have control over myself, which causes problems for me. But the referees told one of the guys that they weren’t going to foul him because he was coming toward us. I think that’s not fair. I know I complained a lot, but I don’t think that’s fair. They played with me very physically.”
The Slovenians’ defeat means that Germany and Serbia secured the 2024 Olympic places as the top two European participants in the World Cup.
Canada will play Serbia in the semifinals on Friday (without Nikola Jokic) and the USA face Germany, which beat Latvia on Wednesday and reached the semi-finals of a World Cup for the second time since 2002.
Slovenia, which finished fourth in its Olympic debut in Tokyo with Doncic averaging 23.8 points, 9.7 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game, can only qualify for the Paris Games if there is a load next July -Chance tournament wins.
That’s how it came to Tokyo, where, less than a month after his Dallas Mavericks were eliminated from the NBA playoffs, Doncic recorded a triple-double and beat hosts Lithuania in a win-or-go qualifier.
Eight of the twelve Olympic men’s basketball spots for 2024 are filled: host France, the USA, Canada, Germany, Serbia, Australia, South Sudan and Japan. The other four will be filled by the winner of each of the four last-chance tournaments in July.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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