The German basketball players made a record start and took the next big step on the way to the finals in Manila. Led by captain Dennis Schröder, the Germans clearly defeated Finland in Okinawa 101:75 (47:39) and secured their third win in the third World Cup game.
After a few initial difficulties, Schröder contributed 15 points, this time he was able to lean back early in view of the clear lead. Isaac Bonga (15) replaced Franz Wagner, who had an ankle injury.
The group win had already been decided before the game in front of around 6037 spectators – including Dirk Nowitzki again. The intermediate round is on Friday and Sunday, the opponents will most likely be Georgia and ex-European champion Slovenia with superstar Luka Doncic. The final decision in partner group F will be made on Wednesday.
It was only the second time that Germany’s basketball players opened a major tournament with three wins. It premiered a year ago at the European Championships at home, also with national coach Gordon Herbert. It has never been successful at a World Cup, not even with Nowitzki.
The Canadian coach decided to do without 22-year-old Franz Wagner again. “He trained in the gym yesterday, that was a good sign. Today he worked in the pool. We have to see how he looks on Wednesday and Thursday,” said Herbert at Magentasport. The upcoming two rest days should help the ailing Orlando Magic pro. Wagner sat again in his dark tracksuit in the Okinawa Arena. The young hope did not radiate any real joy at the end of the bench.
Against the winless Finns, Germany allowed themselves the weakest start of the tournament so far. Unlike against Japan (81:63) and Australia (85:82), playmaker Schröder was closely guarded by the European Championship quarter-finalists and doubled early. Bad passes and misses were the result of an offensive that was static in the first few minutes.
Only with a few changes did more movement come into play. Bank players who were weak in the preparation such as Bonga, Johannes Thiemann and Niels Giffey made an effort and converted shots. The false start was quickly corrected, with a 16:2 run the Herbert team overtook the Finns in the second quarter and ensured a preliminary decision. As in the first two group games, the ensemble around NBA professional Lauri Markkanen allowed many easy points. After the break, the Germans continued to pull away, and the game was decided early on.
After three wins in five days, Germany can now take a breather for a moment, the toughest preliminary round group of the tournament was mastered with flying colors. However, the situation in the intermediate round can also become complicated after the flawless group stage, there is a risk of three-way comparisons with Australia and Slovenia. Only the top two teams from the intermediate stage make it to Manila, where all finals matches from the quarterfinals onwards will be played next week.
