2 player of the tournament, especially once it was clear Australia was going to take home bronze. We were between Doncic and Patrick Mills for this spot, but the veteran guard having the game of his life when the stakes were highest – with a shot at winning the first Olympic basketball medal in Australia’s history – was the deciding factor in placing Mills as the No. Still, overall, Doncic was one of the best players of the tournament, and finishing fourth despite being from a Slovenia that has a population of two million is no small feat whatsoever. Then, with a chance to bring home the first Olympic basketball medal in his nation’s history against Australia in the bronze medal match, Doncic scored 22 points but went 7-for-20 from the floor and 3-for-13 from three while turning the ball over eight times. What’s wild is that even in a game where he clearly struggled overall, Doncic still had the third Olympic triple-double in tournament history, dishing out 18 helpers against the French and securing 10 boards, showing what a spectacular talent he is. Holiday was inarguably the Americans’ second-most important at the Games, scoring the bar at an efficient level while, more importantly, being an absolute pest defensively, hounding opposing ball-handlers up and down the floor and jumping passing lanes for steals to ignite transition opportunities for Team USA.Īgainst a field that had multiple high-level, FIBA-specialist guards, Holiday’s contributions were absolutely crucial, helping slow down the likes of Fournier (5-for-15 in the gold-medal game against Team USA) and FIBA Patrick Mills, who we’ll talk about more just a bit, and without him, one has to wonder who else on the American squad would have been capable of taking on such a role and making the same impact.Īfter what was a terrifyingly effective start to the tournament, we finally saw some cracks in Luka Doncic’s armor as he faced two of the three best countries, basketball-wise, in the world in back-to-back games, though, in fairness, those cracks may have been injury-related, as Doncic was sporting a banged-up wrist late in the Games.įirst, facing France with a chance to reach the gold-medal match, Doncic scored just 16 points, require 18 field-goal attempts to do so, while going 2-for-9 from beyond the arc. We’ve reached the point where we can’t call Jrue Holiday underrated anymore, because after winning an NBA title and Olympic gold medal in a two-week span, whoever doesn’t consider the Milwaukee Bucks and Team USA guard one of the best two-way players in the world has their head buried very deeply in the sand.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |