He still acknowledged his foes' brilliant play, though.
Luka Doncic blasted the officiating in the aftermath of Slovenia’s 100-89 loss to Canada that saw him get ejected early in the fourth period of their FIBA World Cup quarterfinal duel.
“Playing for the national team, there’s a lot of emotions. A lot of times I had [to] control myself,” he told members of the media after the match at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.
“But you know, the referees told one of the guys they’re not gonna call a foul on him because he’s coming at us. I think this is not fair. I know I complain a lot, but I don’t think it's fair.”
The Dallas Mavericks superstar blew his top with still 6 minutes and 37 seconds remaining in the game. He was whistled his second technical foul, leading to the ejection. Less than 30 seconds before that, pesky Canadian guard Dillon Brooks also got thrown out.
Slovenia coach Aleksander Sekulic came to the Doncic’s defense after the loss that relegated the team to the classification matches for the 5 to 8 spots.
“It’s difficult to play a game, you got hit constantly all game long. It’s difficult to control emotions. We work a lot [on it] but it’s very difficult. He has the ball a lot in his hands and it’s frustrating,” Sekulic said.
“You get tired from this. It’s very difficult. I don’t know if you could be in this situation to understand this but it’s very difficult. That’s why the emotions come out. I know it doesn’t look good but it's very very difficult.”
Like a true sport, though, Doncic acknowledged how brilliant the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-led Canadian team played. But he reserved the praise for his teammates.
“Congratulations to Canada. They played great. Very physical game,” he said.
“But I’m proud of my team. Everybody gave a 100 percent when they we’re out there. We will go back to the hotel with our heads up.”