Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic had 31 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds to lead Slovenia past host Lithuania 96-85 in Kaunas on Sunday, securing the team's first-ever Olympic appearance.
Doncic, who helped Slovenia win gold at EuroBasket 2017, played 34 minutes to help his country claim one of the final spots in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The 22-year-old, who was presented with the MVP award by Lithuanian legend Arvydas Sabonis after the win, deflected praise to his teammates.
"Not me," Doncic told reporters. "We are making history for our country. ... That was our goal, to be in the Olympics, first time in our country. And we can just go up from here."
Doncic had 23 points, 13 assists and nine rebounds in Saturday's win over Venezuela to reach the final against Lithuania. He averaged 21.3 points, 11.3 assists and eight rebounds in the four-game qualifying tournament.
Slovenia will join Argentina, Japan and Spain in Group C. Group play begins July 25.
"The Slovenians, we know how to fight, and we're not going to go down easy," Doncic said.
Lithuania, which got 14 points from the Grizzlies' Jonas Valanciunas and nine from the Pacers' Domantas Sabonis, missed the Olympics for the first time since becoming independent.
The host countries of the four qualifying tournaments each failed to reach the Olympics. Canada was upset Saturday by the Czech Republic, which will face Greece later on Sunday for the final spot in Tokyo.
Germany beat Brazil on Sunday to come out of the qualifying tournament in Croatia, after beating Croatia on Saturday. Italy took down Serbia, who did not have NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, in Sunday's final in Serbia.
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