Last photos of June

Isn’t this a case of good timing! While there may be only flowers as the last photo on my camera, my phone provides something special.

First, the flowers:

And here are my last two photos on my phone since I didn’t pack my camera to The Game on purpose. I knew I’d be otherwise occupied.

These were the only two photos I took. Mom and I were left open-mouthed, and Luka is the one in black and blue with red sneakers (for the game he changed them).

Here are a few key points:

• End result: Slovenia 97 : Croatia 69. As I anticipated and foretold, Slovenia almost scored 100 (in Europe games are 8 minutes shorter) and almost won by 30 points. My kind of game – leave no doubt.
• We arrived one hour early to discover spotless organisation with no queues despite the sold-out venue, most excellent seats in row 9 (for 40 Eur apiece), the guys warming up, and a loud and obnoxious sound system that forced us to use doggie bags, which I always carry around, to stuff our ears (Really. Thanks, dog!), which left us deaf (once the game started it was okay and we could unplug).
• Croatian players (including Zubac from the L. A. Clippers and Bogdanović from the Utah Jazz) were introduced first, and when they turned off the lights and turned on the fires for the presentation of the Slovenian team, mom found it over the top, while I thought it was rather spectacular. Luka got the cheer he deserves.
• Slovenia won the first (10 minute) quarter with 33 : 8. Nuff said. Luka stole many balls, dunked once, made many passes, knocked down a few threes and ended up with 21 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds. 19 points were added by Goran Dragić who returned to the national team five years after the Euro Cup victory when he retired. This was his last home game ever. In September Slovenia plays in another Euro Cup and he may or may not play there. And he may or may not join Luka in Dallas Mavericks…
• We were getting really thirsty and before the last quarter stepped out of the arena to get drinks. I was amazed that there was no queue at the bar and that we got a beer for me and an ice-T for mom in record time and were able to return to our seats in time for the last quarter to start. With a beer and all! Luxury! Like a rock’n’roll show!
• Once the game ended and Goran was tossed in the air in celebration, Luka and a few other players passed through the tunnel right next to mom and me, even though throughout the game this tunnel was reserved for Croatian players. We both leaned over the fence and as Luka was passing, he (and I’m NOT making this up) took off his shirt, looked straight at us and threw the shirt up towards us. He didn’t make a good job of it and it landed away from us. He did the “my bad” gesture and almost returned to retrieve it but by that time it was gone. I looked at mom, mom looked at me and said the famous last words: “Did you see that Edo Murić (another player on the team) almost threw us his shirt?” 😀 😀 Well, Luka and Edo do seem to share the barber…

For the curious, here are the game’s highlights with an excited commentator, good crowd noise and a sighting of us (mom’s wild shirt gives us away) at 5:26 in the top left-hand corner:

Here is how Luka Dončić was greeted by his people after four years of no official home game, and how Slovenians like to sing and cheer:

And finally, this is how we sang the National Anthem which is a toast to the day when all neighbours will be friends and no longer foes. I drink to this.

Bushboy’s Last on the Card rules are simple:

1. Post the last photo on your SD card or last photo on your phone for the 30th June.
2. No editing – who cares if it is out of focus, not framed as you would like or the subject matter didn’t cooperate.
3. You don’t have to have any explanations, just the photo will do.
4. Create a Pingback to this post or link in the comments.
5. Tag “The Last Photo”.

For Last on the card challenge hosted by bushboys world