On September 11th Beijing time, Luka Dončić scored an impressive 39 points, yet Slovenia still fell short against Germany. Ultimately, Germany overturned the deficit to win 99-91 and move on to the EuroBasket semifinals. Both teams earned many free throw attempts: Slovenia made 20 out of 25, while Germany’s free throw stats were even more remarkable with 30 out of 37.

However, what truly ignited Dončić’s anger were the early game calls — he had already shown frustration over the referees’ decisions multiple times. After the game, in an interview with Slovenian Sports Television, he said, “This matter... I better not say much. Just two minutes into the game, I got a technical foul for saying ‘alo’ (like ‘hello’), but there’s nothing much to say. At a quarterfinal of this level, no matter who you are, this shouldn’t happen. If they don’t even give a warning and call it right away, I just can’t understand it. This is a quarterfinal, everyone is fighting hard to reach the semis, so I really don’t get why they would make such calls...”

When asked to elaborate, he declined to discuss further: “I actually prefer not to talk about it because, well, I think it’s better if I don’t... Especially since I picked up my fourth personal foul just at the start of the third quarter, something that’s never happened in my career before.” When he got the fourth foul, he even made a counting gesture toward the referee, but the official didn’t see it.

Having committed four fouls in the game, Dončić later spoke to Slovenian media in the mixed zone, expressing regret about his performance: “I’m very angry, one hundred percent angry. In the fourth quarter, I could have done more but forced shots; at crucial moments, I could have performed better but made wrong decisions... We have to give credit to my brothers, we proved we have what it takes to win. Everyone gave their all, no holding back.”

“This result is far from enough for us. We had higher goals, but many people showed us disrespect before. We are fighting for Slovenia, for this national team jersey, and everyone gave 100% effort. So respect to everyone — we could have chosen to relax on vacation, but instead we fought for every ball and gave our best.” said the Los Angeles Lakers superstar.

Despite the loss, Dončić’s core attitude remained clear: “Maybe I don’t feel proud right now because the sting of defeat is too strong, but I’m sure in a few days I’ll be proud of every single person on this team. Losing two games in the group stage and then bouncing back to win three or four in a row is no easy feat, and that kind of performance deserves respect.”

It’s worth noting that this game was also forward Edo Murić’s farewell for the Slovenian national team. Dončić paid tribute to him: “Edo Murić is one of my closest friends; he served the national team for a long time and has always been a true captain. It’s an honor for me to have played alongside him, wearing the same national team jersey.”