Slovenia played its first-ever Olympic basketball game against Argentina early Monday morning, and Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic ran wild to guide his country to an exhilarating 118-100 victory.
Doncic, already named to the All-NBA First Team twice at just 22 years old, asserted his dominance from the very start of the contest, hitting a trio of three-pointers in a one-minute span early in the first quarter. Through the game's first 10 minutes, the Ljubljana-born star racked up 17 points and three rebounds.
He finished the game with 48 points — 31 of which came in the first half alone — 11 rebounds and five assists.
The Olympic single-game points record of 55, set by Brazil’s Oscar Schmidt in 1988, was in reach, but Doncic stayed on the bench in the game's final minutes.
While Doncic was the maestro behind Slovenia's success, University of Virginia product Mike Tobey put together an admirable performance of his own. Tobey, 26, led the team with 14 rebounds and finished with 11 points while making 63 percent of his buckets.
Doncic is the unquestioned centerpiece for this new-kid-on-the-block Slovenian team, and if his first 40 minutes of Olympic basketball serve as any indication, Slovenia could be in for quite a ride.
Doncic and Slovenia will next play early Thursday morning at 12:40 a.m. ET against host country Japan.