The bronze medalist at the European Championships also plays at the World Cup. Germany’s basketball players qualify with a win over Finland. There is not much euphoria left from the exciting summer.
The German basketball players bought their World Cup ticket ahead of schedule after the rousing summer of the European Championship.
The team of national coach Gordon Herbert defeated Finland 94:80 (44:36) in Bamberg and will take part in the world tournament in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines (25 August to 10 September 2023). David Krämer (19 points), Christian Sengfelder (19) and Justus Hollatz (18) stood out from the weakened team. Finland has already qualified for sure.
EM euphoria gone?
“We have a lot of failures because of them NBA and the Euroleague, plus injuries and illnesses. But it’s a great opportunity for those who are here.”, said head coach Herbert at “Magentasport”. The fans were less enthusiastic about the completely renewed squad without the NBA stars around Dennis Schröder before the qualifying game. Only 3,927 fans found their way to the hall in Franconia, where the former series champion Brose Bamberg usually plays. Entire grandstands were hung with black curtains. Almost two months after the EM bronze, there is not much left of the euphoria from Cologne and Berlin.
On the floor, the team tried their best for the aggressive Hollatz and local hero Sengfelder. The duo, which had hardly been used at the European Championships behind stars like Schröder, Franz Wagner and Daniel Theis, should now take on the leading roles. “The most important thing is that we play hard and stick together”said Herbert, who said he was ill for ten days after the EM in September.
DBB team long behind
The German team was trailing behind for a long time and only really got going just before the break. The eight-point lead at halftime was the highest to date. After that, however, the lead continued to grow, and the German team pulled away decisively in the third quarter.
Not only the Germans had to do without numerous top performers. The Finns have a European star player in Lauri Markkanen, but he power forward is currently also required in the NBA. At the European Championships in the summer, Finland surprisingly reached the quarter-finals. In the coming summer, the two nations will travel to Asia for the World Cup. Even third-placed Slovenia around superstar Luka Doncic can hardly take the ticket anymore.
On Monday (6.00 p.m.) Germany will be a guest in the World Cup qualifier in Koper with ex-European champions Slovenia, who are without Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks must compete. From a sporting point of view, the game will be just as meaningless after the ticket has already been purchased as the two qualifying games that are scheduled for the new year against Sweden (February 24) and Finland (February 27) at the end of Group J.