Luka Dončić's money-counting gesture! Slovenian coach and players criticize referees: There's no way to win with calls like this

On September 11th, during the EuroBasket quarterfinals, the Slovenian men's basketball team was overturned by Germany, losing 91-99 and missing out on a semifinal spot. In the third quarter, Dončić made a money-counting gesture toward the referee after being called for his fourth foul. Although the referees missed it at the time, the gesture sparked controversy afterward. In fact, both the Slovenian coach and players were very dissatisfied with the refereeing standards in this game.

Dončić scored 39 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out 7 assists. When asked about the referees after the game, he responded, "This is something I... I'd better not say. Just two minutes into the game, I got a technical foul for saying 'alo' (similar to 'hello' in English), but there's nothing much to say. At a quarterfinal level, no matter who you are, this shouldn't happen. If they call a foul directly without even a warning, I really can't understand it. This is a quarterfinal, everyone is fighting hard to reach the semifinals, so I really don't get why they would call it like that..."

"Honestly, I prefer not to talk about it because, I mean, maybe it's better if I don't say anything..." Dončić continued, "After all, I got my fourth personal foul just at the start of the third quarter, something that has never happened in my career before."

Slovenia finished 7th in the EuroBasket. Dončić updated his social media with a team photo captioned "Proud." Although the team was eliminated, Dončić expressed satisfaction with everyone's performance.

Dončić's teammate, Alen Omić, also defended him. "Our best player in this EuroBasket didn't receive the protection he deserved. He got three fouls in just 10 to 15 minutes of playing time. What is that? He's the best player of the tournament; everyone came to watch him play."

Omić pointed out that the difference in free throw attempts between the two teams was a key factor deciding the game. "We couldn't play under such refereeing standards, and that's why we lost. They (Germany) scored 90 points (actually 99), with 40 points (actually 37) coming from free throws — you can calculate the ratio yourself."

"That early technical foul (referring to Dončić’s technical foul two minutes into the game) seemed to completely change the course of the match. To me, it was very abnormal," Omić added. "We trained for two months, away from our families, all focused on winning this game, and then this happens. What else can I say? I’m speechless."

“If things continue like this, we simply cannot win,” he continued expressing dissatisfaction. “We should have won this game. We played very well and gave everything. We came here to push further in the tournament, but when the opponent gets so many free throw opportunities in one game, winning is impossible.”

“First of all, congratulations to Germany for reaching the semifinals. From the very first minute of the match, some things happened on the court that I could talk about — those things were really unusual,” Slovenian head coach Aleksander Sekulić began the press conference with these words.

“I feel sorry for the players, but I don’t want to dwell too much on these (controversial calls) because it would diminish the effort the players put in — not just in this game but throughout the entire EuroBasket.”

“I know we have a great superstar Luka (Dončić), but the players around him also gave their all — it’s not easy, I mean, it’s really tough. Being disrespected like today is truly painful,” he said. “The pain comes from seeing the players suffering in the locker room right now.”

“Because I firmly believe we played extremely well today. I think we were the better team. Maybe we should apologize for being a ‘dirty team’ — especially in the last quarter, committing so many fouls against Germany.”

Sekulić stated that even though the team was eliminated by the "best team" of this EuroBasket, he still feels immensely proud of his players.

“It’s over now, we lost. But I’m really proud of these guys,” Sekulić said. “If I could, I would bring all 12 players here and have everyone stand up and applaud them. This summer, in this tournament, what they faced — I think I can say — was the top team in EuroBasket: Germany. Look at their roster, look at their depth...”

“And we controlled them throughout the game, which is an achievement in itself,” the coach said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t win the match. But I believe we can hold our heads high after this EuroBasket — even if not everyone involved in this game can say the same.” Sekulić’s final words clearly hinted at issues with the refereeing calls.