Luka Doncic wasn’t going to let a little foul trouble keep him and Slovenia out of the final 16 of EuroBasket.
A game that started with Doncic in foul trouble saw him finish with 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lead Slovenia to an 87-79 win against Iceland.
With the win, Slovenia became one of the 12 teams to guarantee its spot in the 16-team knockout round that starts this weekend. Another team to clinch its spot was Israel, which picked up a 92-89 win against Belgium behind 22 points from Portland’s Deni Avdija.
The 12 teams that have qualified for the knockout round are:
• Serbia
• Turkey
• Latvia
• Germany
• Finland
• Lithuania
• Greece
• Italy
• Poland
• Israel
• France
• Slovenia
That group is likely to be joined by Nikola Vucevic and Montenegro, provided it can beat winless Great Britain in its final game. The biggest game may come on Wednesday when Estonia takes on Celtics’ center Neemias Queta and Portugal: Winner advances to the round of 16, loser goes home.
In other action on Tuesday, the Knicks’ Guerschon Yabusele had a monster game, scoring 33 with six rebounds and a couple of blocks in France’s win over Poland.
In less good news for France, a team already without Victor Wembanyama or Rudy Gobert for this tournament, Wizards big man Alex Sarr is out for the remainder of EuroBasket with a calf injury.
Through four games of the group stage of EuroBasket, the top five scorers are:
1) Luka Doncic, Slovenia, 31.3
2) Lauri Markkanen, Finland, 29
3) Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greece, 29
4) Jordan Lloyd, Poland, 25.8
5) Dennis Schroder, Germany, 22.3