Doncic scores 47 points in EuroBasket vs France

Luka Doncic was asked Tuesday whether he or Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo was more likely to set a EuroBasket scoring record.

Doncic quickly chose Antetokounmpo.

A day later, he might have been proven wrong.

Doncic scored 47 points, the second most by a player in European championship history, to lead Slovenia past France 88-82 on Wednesday for first place in Group B ahead of the start of this weekend’s knockout round.

“Luka, obviously, is a fantastic player,” said French center Rudy Gobert, one of the best defenders in the world.

Doncic scored 27 of Slovenia’s first 36 points, converting 15 of 23 shots from the field, along with a team-high seven rebounds and five assists.

Eddy Terrace scored 63 for Belgium against Albania in 1957. That is the only EuroBasket performance in which anyone scored more points than Doncic; the previous second-best effort was 46 by Nikos Galis of Greece against Sweden in 1983.

The highest in this year’s EuroBasket, which began Wednesday, was Antetokounmpo, who scored 41 points against Ukraine. With Antetokounmpo and Doncic scoring 40+ points in a game, it is the first time since 1987 that multiple players have a 40+ point game in the same EuroBasket tournament.

Goran Dragic broke the tie with a basket with 1:20 to go that put Slovenia ahead for good (4-1). It was a measure of “revenge” for Slovenia, which lost to France in the Olympic semifinals at the Tokyo Games last summer.

“Luka had a great night,” Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic said. “He spoils us a lot. We think it’s normal, but this is not normal.”

Dragic had 14 for Slovenia. Gobert made 19 for France (3-2), which got 15 from Evan Fournier, 13 from Amath M’Baye, 11 from Elie Okobo and a 10-point, 10-rebound effort from Thomas Heurtel.

The final round of the group stage began on Wednesday. There are four groups with six teams in each, and the top four clubs from each group (16 teams in total) advance to Berlin for the knockout phase that begins on Saturday.