The bronze medalist at the European Championships also plays at the World Championships. With a clear victory over Finland, Germany’s badly decimated basketball players qualify for the next big tournament. However, there is not much euphoria left from the exciting summer.
Even without the majority of the EM heroes and despite numerous cancellations, the German basketball players bought their ticket for the 2023 World Cup early. A good eight weeks after winning bronze at the EuroBasket, a C-Team made everything clear in Bamberg with a deserved 94:80 (44:36) victory over Finland. The selection of national coach Gordon Herbert flies to the final round in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines (August 25 to September 10, 2023), even if it will look very different there.
The success in the first international match since the thrilling European Championship against the previously qualified Finns was the eighth of nine games on the way to the World Cup finals. Three matches are still to come. Herbert had to solve a personnel puzzle beforehand – once again. In addition to the NBA professionals, the Canadian was also missing the players from the two German EuroLeague clubs Alba Berlin and Bayern Munich, who had played against each other the day before. In addition, a quartet canceled due to injury or illness, of the EM heroes only Justus Hollatz, local hero Christian Sengfelder and the subsequently nominated Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann were available.
You are in a “next-man-up” situation, said Herbert before the game, meaning: If one fails, the next one has to go. The newly formed German team got off to a promising start against Finland, who only lost out in the quarter-finals to eventual title winners Spain. Hollatz in particular was convincing in the early stages, played clever passes and was initially the best scorer. There were only problems from the three-point line, the first six throws by the hosts all went wrong before David Krämer broke the spell and scored twice in a row.
A 0:9 false start in the second quarter put the hosts behind (22:28/13th minute), then Robin Christen turned things up. In only his second appearance in the A-Team, the forward from ratiopharm Ulm made nine points in a short time and played his part in turning the deficit into a lead.
After the break, Herbert’s protégés controlled the action, Christen provided a 15-point lead with his third three (58:43/25.). Sengfelder also shone in front of his home crowd in Bamberg and, with 19 points, was the best thrower in the selection of the German Basketball Association (DBB) together with Krämer. Hollatz had 18 points and nine assists against the Finns, who were no longer a threat to the German team in the final phase.
Thanks to the success, the DBB can get fully involved in the planning for the 2023 highlight. At the last World Cup participation in 2019 in China, the DBB team under Herbert’s predecessor Henrik Rödl disappointed with 18th place. Next year, a German team will take part in the 19th edition for the seventh time. Then it’s about the ticket for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. The biggest World Cup success to date was bronze in 2002 in Indianapolis.
