Although the group win and the intermediate round are certain, the German basketball players want to win the last World Cup preliminary round game against Finland. But even for this task, the injured Franz Wagner remains questionable.
Franz Wagner laughed again with his teammates, the NBA professional had exchanged the support shoe for the basketball kicks again – and in the training hall of the German team on Okinawa the camera lenses were mainly aimed at the “ankle of the nation”. Does Wagner play or not?
Before the last World Cup preliminary round game on Tuesday (live ticker from 9.30 a.m. on sportschau.de) against Finland, this is an important question to which national coach Gordon Herbert was unable to give a clear answer. “We’re not going to bring him back as soon as possible“, said the coach on Monday: “We’ll make sure he’s ready to play. For me he has to train a day before he plays.”
Avoid unnecessary mortgage
The Canadian estimated the probability of a mission at “50:50“, otherwise Isaac Bonga should go back to the Starting Five back. A glimmer of hope: On Monday Wagner was involved in the regeneration training of the Germans, although after the acclaimed victory against Australia (85:82) only some strength training and throwing exercises were on the plan.
“He’s better. He moves, throws, runs”said Herbert. Wagner twisted his ankle in the opening game against hosts Japan (81:63) last Friday and failed against Australia on Sunday – on his 22nd birthday of all things. Preparations for Finland began on Monday afternoon. If there is a game that offers to spare Wagner another day, it is the game against the Finns, who have already failed.
Franz Wagner in a special shoe
Whereby: Although Germany has bought the ticket for the intermediate round after the two victories as the winner of Group E, the game is of great importance. Finally, all results will be taken into the second group stage, in which the participants in the knockout round in Manila will be decided next Friday and Sunday. A defeat would be an unnecessary burden for the Germans, whose medal dream should not end in Okinawa.
Coach Herbert meets old friends
But the strong performance against Australia, in which captain Dennis Schröder had dominated with 30 points, has to be ticked off quickly. “We have to fight complacency. We said to the players this morning: if we’re still happy about yesterday, we’ve got problems”said Herbert. The 64-year-old knows about the danger that Finland poses, even if NBA Allstar Lauri Markkanen and Co. are already out of the race after two bankruptcies.
“They’re a good basketball team. You can play at a very high level. And they have an elite player in Lauri Markkanen”, said Herbert, who was under contract in Finland for a long time, speaks the language and even has a Finnish passport. This is another reason why the game on Tuesday will be special for the national coach. “It’s a bit strange because I know all the players, I’ve coached a few myself”according to Herbert.