In terms of sport, the last group game is meaningless for the German basketball players, second place in the Eurobasket preliminary round is already certain. Before leaving for Berlin, the DBB team thanks the Cologne audience with an offensive party. Three top performers are missing.
Even without a trio around captain Dennis Schröder, the German basketball players said goodbye to their audience at the end of the Cologne festival week with a victory that was never in doubt. Three days before the European Championship round of 16 against Montenegro in Berlin, the team of national coach Gordon Herbert defeated the winless outsider Hungary 106:71 (54:39) in the meaningless last group game.
Previously, with his next record show, Luka Doncic had ensured that the German team was no longer concerned. With a sensational 47 points, the second best value in European Championship history, the NBA star led Slovenia to an 88:82 (44:40) win over France. The European champions secured first place in Group B, while Germany was second in the table. And the Dallas Mavericks point guard seems to be in top form just in time.
On the evening before the trip to the capital, Herbert could afford to rest players. Schröder and NBA Vice Champion Daniel Theis were given a break, Nick Weiler-Babb (shoulder problems) was on the bench. It is not yet clear whether the native American will be able to play on Saturday (6 p.m. / MagentaSport). All three have always belonged to the starting five, Herbert instead relied on Maodo Lo, Johannes Thiemann and Andreas Obst. Justus Hollatz and Christian Sengfelder, who have not played in Cologne so far, also made their European Championship debuts.
The personnel changes were initially noticeable. The DBB team needed some warm-up time, but took control in the middle of the second quarter and pulled away with a 13:2 run. Especially Franz Wagner, who has been so strong in the course of the tournament so far, Lo and Obst were successful on offense. Lo hit four of six three-pointers in the first half.
“We have to improve defensively, we conceded too many easy points,” said Hollatz at MagentaSport during the break: “We found the rhythm quite well on offense, but we mustn’t let up.” The hosts continued to concentrate and had the Hungarians under control. Schröder and Theis cheered for every successful move on the bench, and there was plenty of it – Sengfelder scored ten points in the third quarter alone.
The last ten minutes were a better show, Hungary had given up long ago. The lead grew, the game, which was only interesting for the statistics, was already decided in front of once again very well filled ranks. When leaving Cologne, Sengfelder was the top scorer with 22 points for the German team, which only lost to Slovenia in the group stage and celebrated four wins. Hollatz shone with 11 assists, Lo delivered 21 points in 21 minutes, while Wagner needed just under 12 minutes for his 15 points.
There have only been two international matches against opponents in the round of 16, Montenegro, both of which were lost. 2020 and 2021, each qualifying for the current EuroBasket. However, the DBB team secured its ticket as co-host. The team flies to Berlin on Thursday morning, and the first training session before the final round is scheduled to take place in the afternoon. After a two-day break, things get serious again in the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
