Luka Doncic and Slovenia still have Olympic hopes, and perhaps surprisingly, the Philippines.
Doncic had 36 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists and Slovenia beat New Zealand 104-78 on Thursday to book a spot in the semifinals of the Olympic qualifying tournament in Piraeus, Greece. Slovenia needed to win by at least 10 points to advance to the semifinals.
Slovenia will face Greece on Saturday, led by Doncic and fellow NBA All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo. The winner will advance to Sunday's final for a spot in Paris, while the loser will be eliminated.
Slovenia's Josh Nebo had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Shay Ili led New Zealand with 28 points.
Semi-final matchups
The matchups for Saturday's semi-finals have been decided.
In Valencia, Spain, Finland will face Spain and the Bahamas will face Lebanon.
Piraeus, Greece — Slovenia vs Greece, Croatia vs Dominican Republic.
In Riga, Latvia, Brazil will face the Philippines and Cameroon will face Latvia.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Lithuania vs Italy or Puerto Rico, Italy or Puerto Rico vs Mexico.
The finals across four venues will take place on Sunday, with the four winners qualifying for the Paris Olympics.
Georgia 96, Philippines 94
Despite the loss, the Philippines advanced to Saturday's semifinals in Riga, Latvia. That created a bit of a problem: The team was scheduled to fly home on Friday.
“I think we need to step back a little bit,” Philippines coach Tim Cone said. “It's amazing to be here talking to you guys. This is the first time I've ever felt good about losing.”
Georgia needed to win by at least 19 points to advance.
Sandro Mamukelashvili led Georgia with 26 points, while Goga Bitadze finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Justin Brownlee was the Philippines' leading scorer with 28 points, along with eight rebounds and eight assists.
Finland 89, Poland 88
Finland was down 12 points early in the fourth set but closed out the match with a 25-12 victory to keep their Olympic hopes alive and advance to the semifinals.
Mikael Jantunen added 20 points and Alexander Madsen added 18 for Finland, who combined to make 12 of 13 field goals.
Poland was defeated despite AJ Slaughter's 21 points and Jeremy Sochan's 20 points.
Greece 93, Egypt 71
Antetokounmpo was rested in Piraeus, and Greece advanced to the semifinals.
Greece's Konstantinos Mitoglou and Georgios Papagiannis each had 16 points, while Kostas Popanicolou had 15 points.
Egypt's Ahmed Metwally scored 22 points but the team was eliminated.
Cameroon 77, Brazil 74
In Riga, Cameroon won and advanced, Brazil lost but still won their group, and Montenegro lost without even playing a game.
Jeremiah Hill led Cameroon with 22 points, which needed a win to advance to Saturday's semifinal in Latvia, but a loss would have meant Montenegro would advance to the semifinals.
Leo Meindl led Brazil with 19 points. Brazil only had to win their match or lose by six points or less to win the group. A loss of 15 points or more would have eliminated Brazil and allowed Montenegro to advance.
Lebanon 74, Angola 70
Omari Spellman had 22 points and 13 rebounds as Lebanon advanced to the semifinals in Valencia, Spain.
Karim Zeinoun added 15 points for the winners, including a personal seven-straight point smash that turned the game around at 49-49 early in the fourth quarter and gave Lebanon a 56-49 lead that they never relinquished.
Angola was beaten despite Gelson Goncalves' 13 points and Bruno Fernando's 12.
Mexico 92, Ivory Coast 81
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Paul Stoll scored 23 points and added 11 assists as Mexico overcame a nine-point second-half deficit to advance to the semifinals.
Joshua Ibarra had 22 points and 11 rebounds for Mexico, which outscored Ivory Coast 24-12 in the fourth quarter to win the game.
Nisle Zouzoua and Vafessa Fofana each scored 16 points for Ivory Coast.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-Paris-Olympics
