A significant increase in performance after the half-time break brought the German team their second win against Bosnia-Herzegovina at the European Basketball Championship.
The German national team won their second group game at the European Basketball Championship on Saturday (September 3rd, 2022) against Bosnia-Herzegovina with 92:82 (18:20, 24:27, 28:11, 22:24) and thus celebrated the second Success in Group B
DBB with a weak first half
The DBB team had big problems in the first half. In contrast to the victory over France, Gordon Herbert’s team didn’t get into the game at all offensively for a long time. Defensively, the Bosnians presented the team with problems, especially with the two stars in the team, Dzanan Musa and Jusuf Nurkic. It was the two of them who kept putting the DBB team behind in the first quarter. After the first quarter, Germany was 18:20 behind.
But that’s not all: Musa was already in the double-digit scorer range after twelve minutes of the game. The Real Madrid player opened the second quarter with a threesome. “We didn’t defend well in the first half”, explained Germany’s Franz Wagner on the station “Magenta Sport”. Overall, however, it was a tight game with Bosnia-Herzegovina having a small lead. At half time it was 42:47.
Germany turns up after the break
At half-time, national coach Gordon Herbert seemed to have found the right words: The DBB team started the third section as if transformed. In defense, the hosts were now much more concentrated, the offensive around NBA star Dennis Schröder finally got going better. A 12-0 run gave Germany their first lead and made the team appear much more confident.
The referees then came to the fore a little more: A few controversial foul whistles ensured that Germany’s Franz Wagner and Johannes Voigtmann, who had already committed four personal fouls, stayed on the bench to prevent the two from ending prematurely. In terms of points, however, things looked good – Germany went into the final round with 70:58.
Wagner sets the final points
The DBB team was there now – and so was the hall: When Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann prevented a Bosnian throw with a magnificent block at 77:62, there was no one left in the stands. Everything now looked like a German success.
But Bosnia-Herzegovina fought back and worked their way up to six points with three minutes remaining. Again it was a block that pulled the momentum back to the German side: Franz Wagner prevented Nurkic from throwing, and then there were even free throws for the DBB team. 57 seconds before the end, Herbert called his time-out with a seven-point lead. Wagner finally made the decision with a transformed threesome.