Led by record-breaking Dennis Schröder, the German basketball team completed the first group stage of World Cup qualifying almost flawlessly and are well on course towards the 2023 finals.
After the lackluster 93:83 (40:36) over Poland in Bremen, the selection of the German Basketball Association (DBB) took eleven out of twelve possible points into the next phase. Now comes the last break before a packed summer.
From the end of August, national coach Gordon Herbert’s team, which only lost to Estonia when the Canadian made his debut in the first part of the qualification, will meet in a new group against European champions and opponents in the preliminary round of the European Championships, Slovenia, and Finland. Third opponent is Sweden or Croatia. Three teams from the squadron are going to the 2023 World Cup, the starting position at half-time could hardly be better.
Schröder: “Did a very good job”
“Not everything worked out, but in the end we did a very good job,” said Schröder MagentaSport and added: “The team chemistry is right, we showed that in the last quarter. We want to take the momentum with us, we played the last two games very well.”
The best German thrower in the well-filled Bremen ÖVB Arena was Schröder, who scored 38 points after considerable initial difficulties. The 28-year-old had never recorded so many points in a game in the national jersey. The player from Braunschweig made a successful comeback on Thursday in the revenge match in Estonia (88:57) after a nearly three-year break with the national team.
Unlike three days earlier in Tallinn, the German team initially had little together. Schröder tried a lot, but was regularly stopped when trying to get to the basket. The throws didn’t want to fall, and there were also ball losses.
Injury concerns about Bonga
Herbert couldn’t be satisfied at all, especially on the offensive, little worked for a long time. The picture only changed in the last minutes of the first half, Schröder scored ten points in a very short time. Christian Sengfelder, the top scorer in Estonia, also played well in this phase.
Due to injury problems, Isaac Bonga only watched from the bench in the second round, the Poles couldn’t be shaken off. AJ Slaughter in particular caused problems for the German defense.
And the attacking game continued to falter, it was 57:56 before the final quarter, it remained a close affair. Schröder made it 82:78 with two quick threes, with 1:27 minutes left on the clock. Poland shortened, Schröder made it 84:80 on the free-throw line. The previously weak Johannes Voigtmann made the decision with a three pointer.
DBB team next at the Supercup in Hamburg
The DBB team continues in a good seven weeks with the Supercup in Hamburg (19th/20th August), which in preparation for the European Championships at home (1st to 18th September) with games in Cologne (preliminary round) and Berlin (final round) serves. The other teams in the four-man tournament are semi-final opponents the Czech Republic, Italy and Serbia.
The next two World Cup qualifiers will be played between the Supercup and the EuroBasket. The first home game of the second group phase will take place in Munich on August 28th, against Slovenia and NBA star Luka Doncic. The finals will take place in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
SID
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