The Tall Blacks’ Paris Olympics hopes have been dashed by Slovenian NBA star Luka Doncic.
After opening the qualifying tournament with a win over Croatia yesterday, New Zealand have been defeated 104-78 by Slovenia to finish third in the group. It means their Olympic drought continues with 2004 being the last time the New Zealand men’s team appeared at the Games.
Doncic, coming off an NBA finals run with the Dallas Mavericks, finished with a triple-double (37 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists) after outscoring the Tall Blacks himself in the opening quarter as Slovenia went out to a 27-9 lead.
The Tall Blacks recovered in the second quarter to close the gap to 49-43 shortly after halftime before Slovenia went on a 13-0 run including a Doncic buzzer-beater to end the quarter.
New Zealand could have advanced with a defeat by less than 10 points but Slovenia also were chasing a large win to finish ahead of Croatia and avoid hosts Greece in the semifinals. Croatia ended up topping the group despite yesterday’s defeat to the Tall Blacks.