The German basketball players have made a successful start to the World Cup year. Gordon Herbert’s team, which has already secured participation in the World Cup, won the penultimate qualifying game on Friday evening (February 24th, 2023) in Frankfurt am Main against Sweden with 73:66 and is now fighting for the end of the second group phase in Finland on Monday group win.
In front of 5003 spectators in the Frankfurt Ball Sports Hall, Herbert used the game against the Scandinavians to test some younger players. Since, in addition to the NBA players, the professionals from the German Euroleague clubs Alba Berlin and Bayern Munich were also missing, celebrated in Jason GeorgeNelson Weidemann and Jonas Richter three players of the Chemnitz 99ers made their debut in the national jersey.
Three debutants on the DBB team – Jonas Richter with 14 rebounds
Richter in particular fitted in brilliantly, narrowly scoring 9 points and 14 rebounds double double over. The best German thrower was David Kramer with 13 points.
“It was hard. It was a bit static, but we found a way. Our defense was very good“said the national coach at MagentaSport and praised his young players: “It’s great that they have this experience. That’s a big difference to a BBL game.”
Although the team had never played together in this composition, they showed a decent performance. After initial difficulties, the hosts pulled away in the second quarter and were nine points ahead at half-time.
Voigtmann as the leader of the young DBB team
The inexperienced team was led by center Johannes Voigtmann. The veteran, who was co-captain when they won bronze at the European Championships last summer, only joined the team on Friday morning after having played for Milan in the Euroleague on Thursday evening. “Jo is simply the pro par excellence. It’s a great sign and important for the boys that he’s here“Herbert praised the 30-year-old.
On Saturday, the team will fly from Frankfurt to Finland, where the final qualifying game will be played on Monday (5:30 p.m.). The Finns won 97-95 after extra time in Israel on Friday and, like Germany, have a record of 9-2 wins. “We want to be first“, said Herbert, even if the group victory has no meaning for the World Cup draw, which takes place on April 29 in the Philippine capital Manila. The World Cup takes place from August 25 to September 10 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.