Slovenia had three quarters of Germany at the European Basketball European Championship – and then lost the game primarily because of the referees. Basketball superstar Luka Doncic in particular was totally served after the 91:99.
Even during the game, the Slovenian had repeatedly caught up in discussions with the referees, after the final siren he let his anger run free for a moment. Doncic demonstratively handed over the ball to the referee and is said to have told him according to “Ekipa24”: “Shame on you!”
Trouble began for Slovenia’s Doncic after two minutes
At the microphone, the 26-year-old did not choose such drastic words, but his statements were still clear. Above all, his technical foul at the beginning of the game brought Doncic onto the palm. “I got that after two minutes, although I only called ‘Come On’. That shouldn’t happen at this level, no matter who the player is”said the Los Angeles Lakers star player.
The twist with the referees was obvious, especially since Doncic also went to the edge of the disqualification (at five fouls) with four fouls very early. “I was not even warned before the technical foul. I really don’t know what the referees thought. And then the fourth foul in the third quarter – something like that has never happened to me in all my career”according to the NBA professional.
Important Slovenes have to go down prematurely
Nevertheless, Doncic was lucky a few times that he did not get the second technical or fifth personal foul) with 39 points, ten rebounds and seven assists the outstanding player on the square and mainly responsible for the fact that Slovenia (led almost continuously until the start of the last section) had the German team on the verge of a defeat.
The fact that this did not happen should not only have been dealing with Doncic, but also in many decisions in the final quarter. Among other things, with Aleksey Nikolic and Alen Omic, two important Doncic helpers left the game because of their fifth fouls.
Kerstin von Kalckreuth, Sportschau, 11.09.2025 07:27 a.m.
“My boys can go home.Slovenia’s coach Aleksander Sekulic, who, like Doncic, invested a lot of time during the game in discussions with the referees. And Omic scolded the performance of the referees, which whistled very petty on both sides: “We couldn’t win this game today.”
“Certain people have to keep the mirror”
Routinier Klemen Prepelic even calculated with the overall performance of the referees in the entire tournament. “I have the feeling that certain things are not at the level that would be appropriate for this tournament. That is sad, so I don’t want to talk about whether victory was deserved or not”said the 32-year-old.
“For me, Germany is the best team in the tournament and I wish you all the best, but certain people have to keep the mirror and increase massively.”