Canny Canada ends Doncic dream

MANILA — Canada beat Slovenia to end Luka Doncic's FIBA World Cup dream and reach the semifinals for the first time on Wednesday, while Germany overcame a poor effort on offense to join it in the final four.

Canada out-battled a Slovenia team led by Dallas Mavericks superstar Doncic 100-89 in Manila to set up a showdown with Serbia on Friday.

Germany will face the United States in the semifinals the same day after beating giant-killer Latvia.

Germany and Serbia also qualified for the Paris Olympics as the two highest-placed European teams at the World Cup, with Slovenia and Latvia eliminated.

Doncic was thrown out of the game in the fourth quarter against Canada after picking up his second technical foul.

Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said his team was not satisfied with what it achieved and set his sights higher than the semifinals.

"Just putting on the jersey is an honor in itself, and to win is another good feeling," said Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 31 points and had 10 rebounds and four assists.

"We're not satisfied. We want to win gold."

Canada came through a bruising encounter that saw both Doncic and Dillon Brooks ejected in the fourth quarter.

Brooks was engaged in a running battle with Doncic the entire game, using defensive tricks to throw the Slovenian star off rhythm.

Doncic admitted that his emotions got the better of him and vowed to "be better for my team" in the future.

"I think everybody knows what the frustration was," he said.

"Playing for the national team, there are a lot of emotions.

"A lot of times I have to control myself, which I'm having problems with."

The two teams were locked at 50-50 at the halftime break.

Canada began to edge ahead after the interval, helped by a timely 3-pointer from Brooks that gave his team a seven-point lead.

Doncic paid respect to Brooks for his performance.

"He played very physical like he always does," he said.

"A lot of people don't like him but I respect him for what he does."

Slovenia's defeat meant they were also eliminated from the race to qualify for the Paris Olympics as one of the two highest-placed European teams at the World Cup.

Doncic said responsibility "starts with me".

"With all the emotions, playing for your country, you want to give your best," he said.

"You want to die out there so it starts with me for sure."

Center Kelly Olynyk said the semifinal against Serbia would be "another battle".

"We're trying to do something that Canada basketball has never done, and we've got to do it together," he said.

"We've got two more games and we've just got to keep playing the way we play."

German joy

Earlier in the day, Germany ended Latvia's dream run at the tournament with a nervy 81-79 win to squeeze into the semifinals and a clash with the US.

Debutant Latvia had already beaten defending champion Spain and Tokyo Olympics silver-medalist France on its way to the quarterfinals.

Germany head coach Gordie Herbert said his team had "a little bit of a stinker on the offensive end", with playmaker Dennis Schroder scoring only four of his 26 field-goal attempts.

"That's probably the worst game I ever played in my career," said Schroder.

"But we're still in the semifinals so shout out to all these guys in the locker room for helping me win this game.

"That's the reason why we're all together and we're a special team."

Latvia gave the unbeaten Germans a fright by jumping out to a 10-point lead after only five minutes, with Davis Bertans in deadly form from three-point range.

Germany eventually gained the upper hand before a barnstorming finish from Latvia made the score closer than Germany would have liked.

"I think one of the strengths of this group is we're a team, and our bench the last three or four games has been outstanding," said Herbert.

"We're able to play 12 guys if necessary."

Bertans said he was extremely proud of Latvia's performance.

"We battled in every single game," added Bertans, whose brother Dairis — the team captain — suffered a tournament-ending injury in the first round.

"I think we put ourselves in a position to win, not because of any individual players — because we played like a team, we played the right way and unfortunately we couldn't get it done at the end."

Latvia — which has been without injured Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis — can still finish as high as fifth in its first World Cup appearance.

The Baltic nation will play Italy in Thursday's consolation playoffs, then play for either fifth- or seventh-place on Saturday.

"They're the best team in Europe nobody talks about," Germany coach Herbert said of Latvia. "And they're missing a couple of guys, too. They play great basketball, team basketball. They shoot it, well-coached, I give them a lot of credit."

Agencies