In the World Cup qualifier, the German basketball players around the NBA stars Dennis Schröder and Franz Wagner dominated the unusually pale European champions Slovenia. And the gate to the World Cup was thrown wide open.
On Sunday (08/28/2022) almost everything was right in the DBB team of national coach Gordon Herbert, who still had to do without the ailing Daniel Theis. In Munich, Germany clearly beat the reigning European champions Slovenia, led by Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic, 90:71 (17:20, 16:11, 28:15, 29:25).
Especially with the rebounds, Germany was a force: A total of 56 pieces went to the DBB team, Slovenia only got 27. Because the German team missed some throws, the victory could have been even higher. Germany now leads qualifying group J with 15 points.
A lot of offensive rebounds for Germany
Germany actually found it difficult at first to get into the game. Slovenia came in better, pulled away at the beginning. But then the DBB team improved. Especially in the second quarter, the Slovenian guests didn’t get along at all, Germany meanwhile got their eleventh offensive rebound.
The fact that superstar Dennis Schröder still had zero points at that point was nothing more than a side note. His NBA colleague Franz Wagner scored diligently, Germany took a nine-point lead at 33:24. This should have been even higher, but the DBB men also missed a few throws in front.
Slovenia comes close, DBB drops briefly
After a Slovenian timeout, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic met, Germany suddenly had problems. The German national coach Gordon Herbert immediately called the next time-out to interrupt the Slovenia run. Nevertheless, the reigning European champions from 2017 came up to 31:33.
Also because Germany’s throw rate was getting weaker. After all, the German team secured another top value: Germany went into the break with 16 offensive rebounds.
Rebounds remain a matter for the DBB team
After the half-time break, Germany remained playfully dominant. The national team acted in a clever and disciplined manner, but from time to time negligence also set in, because the DBB team carelessly missed a few opportunities.
But that was not punished. Germany played a similarly strong defensive rebound against the now very weak Slovenians, who had not lost a game so far this summer. But Slovenia’s nerves were on edge, and the guests kept getting caught up in intense discussions with the referee team.
Lo and Schröder strong in the closing stages
As a result, there was still plenty of room for the DBB team, Niels Giffey scored with a dunk to make it 61:44. Maodo Lo turned up the heat in the final quarter, took good care of Doncic defensively and set his own accents on the offensive.
Schröder also delivered a significantly stronger second half and towards the end broke through a slight urge of the Slovenians with five of his own points.
European Basketball Championship is coming up
The game against Slovenia was also the last endurance test for the DBB team before the start of the European Basketball Championship (1st to 18th September).
France is waiting for the start. But in nine days there will be another duel with Slovenia in the group phase. The EuroBasket takes place in Cologne and Berlin, among other places.