Breaking down Luka Doncic's dazzling triple-double against Greece

Despite totaling a triple-double of 21 points, 10 assists, and 14 rebounds in 30 minutes of play, Luka Doncic and the Slovenian national team suffered at the hands of defeat to Greece today in Ljubljana.

They now move to 1-1 in preparation games ahead of the World Cup tournament, which kicks off for Slovenia on August 26th against Venezuela.

Luka Doncic didn't play in Slovenia's first exhibition game against China on July 25 but has been prepping with the national team ever since ahead of the World Cup.

Breaking down Luka Doncic's dazzling triple-double against Greece

Doncic is poised to play in all five of Slovenia's remaining preparation games, which will include another game on the road against Greece on August 4th, as well as an intriguing game versus the United States in Spain on August 12th.

Giannis Antetokounmpou sat out the game as he is recovering from injury in preliminary games thus far, but his brother Thanasis made a notable impact on the game defensively, as he pestered Slovenia with his length on switches as well as through ball screens.

He even stripped Doncic for a break-away dunk in the 3rd quarter.

On the other side of the ball, Greece rode the coattails of hot perimeter spot-up shooting from former NBA player Kostas Papanikolaou as he chipped in 19 points, virtually all from distance.

Savvy shot creation in mismatches and pick-and-roll scenarios from naturalized citizen Thomas Walkup helped Greece pull away down the stretch, as it became very clear that the current Slovenian roster may not have the length defensively to be as good as Mavs fans had become accustomed to them being over the last couple years.

Slovenia was without Luka's fellow NBA Slovenian confidant Goran Dragic, as he has no plans to play at the World Cup this year.

6-foot-10 pick and roll/pop threat Mike Tobey is also still waiting to join the national team. Slovenian head coach Aleksander Sekulic will have to decide between him and current big Jordan Morgan, as FIBA rule prohibits more than one naturalized citizen from playing for a country at a given time.

Slovenia's roster could still change around the margins before World Cup play locks in on August 25th. However, they'll need Tobey's presence down low as they are extremely thin size-wise across the board.

Luka Doncic looked like he was in an elite shape during his 2023 Slovenia debut

Fans shouldn't hit the panic button though, as Luka Doncic played stellar in his 2023 national team debut despite only finishing 5/13 on field goal attempts. Given it was only an exhibition game, coaching staffs on both sides weren't looking to expel too much energy to win the game.

Luka had plenty of junctures where he could've taken over the game by exerting tons of energy on hard drives to the basket but settled for step-back threes and post-up mid-range fallaways. This won't cause concern in a mere exhibition game though, and there will inevitably be times that Doncic has to settle for a less-than-ideal look this upcoming season with Dallas.

However, the goal will be to make those instances more few and far between as he's entering World Cup play and his 6th season in the NBA in potentially the best shape of his life.

Luka had plenty of flashy plays in the open court, such as a no-look bounce pass where he threaded the needle in transition from half court, to a tough and-1 using his footwork and strength off of a drive and pump-fake.

He used his speed and stamina to blow past defenders on drives and to push the ball in transition much more throughout the game compared to most Mavs games last year.

His strength didn't seem to have abandoned him despite the lost weight, and he used it along with an improved burst offensively, to wreak havoc on drives when he wanted to.

But he could've looked to pick and choose his spots better as a combination of the condensed European court as well as not playing in a game since April likely contributed to his offense looking clunky at times.

Doncic was great defensively though, and moved as well laterally as we've ever seen. His defensive activity and stamina across the board were on par with how good it was during the NBA's Covid-19 bubble.

Doncic had defensive possessions where he shaded his man off-ball well and disrupted passing lanes by forcing turnovers and getting deflections. He looked very spry on defense given his increased mobility that he looks to have gained from losing weight, but there were still the occasional gambles on errant attempts to jump a passing lane or by virtue of pulling the chair on a defender in the post.

He also had a few possessions where he looked lackadaisical or disinterested on defense throughout, but for all the critiques, he was easily a huge defensive plus in this one and only seldom made the aforementioned mistakes that were a lot more common with the Mavs this past season.

Doncic had a few moments where he flinched and grabbed at his ankle/calf area throughout the game. However, while he didn't appear seriously injured or hobbled, it will definitely be something to monitor going forward.

Doncic and Slovenia face off against Greece again in Athens on Friday, August 4.

Greek superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is still unlikely to suit up, seeing how Doncic and Slovenia fare in these preparation games could be very telling as far as how he will play for the Mavericks next year, especially if the style of his game evolves with his body losing weight.