Led by the enthusiastic returnee Dennis Schröder, the German basketball players reach the intermediate goal on the way to the 2023 World Cup. In the victory against Estonia, the team of national coach Gordon Herbert gets the fourth win in a row in the first qualifying round.
Led by NBA star Dennis Schröder, Germany’s basketball players have taken a big step towards the 2023 World Cup and have reached the next qualifying round. The 28-year-old convinced in the clear 88:57 (31:22) victory in Estonia with 14 points, seven rebounds and nine assists and thus proved, despite a poor shooting rate, what the team had been missing in the almost three years of his absence.
With the fourth win in a row, Germany will definitely play in the next qualifying round from August. If they manage to win again against Poland in Bremen on Sunday (6:00 p.m.), a perfect starting position for the next phase is even possible. “We did a great job on defense. We played together as a team on offense. Many of us played well,” said Schröder, who is currently looking for a new club in the North American professional league NBA the party.
In Tallinn, the team of national coach Gordon Herbert lived up to their role as favorites and successfully returned the favor for the embarrassing 66:69 in the first leg in Nuremberg. In addition to Schröder, who slipped into the national jersey unusually early in the year and played his 50th international match, Bamberg’s Christian Sengfelder was particularly convincing with 23 points and nine rebounds. Isaac Bonga scored 21 points.
The victory was also important for the DBB team because the loss against Estonia will not be carried over if the Estonians end up in fourth and last place. The 2023 tournament will be held in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines and will feature 32 teams.
Germany fell 5-0 down early in the Saku Suurhall in the Estonian capital, with home fans cheering loudly. After that, there wasn’t much going on at the bottom of the table. However, the German team took control with conductor Schröder, who only hit four of his 17 field shots. The Houston Rockets pro was hard to slow down with his pace, but struggled with his own distance shots.
With a 13:0 run, the Herbert protégés quickly corrected their false start and gained a secure cushion early on. Despite a few minutes of slack in attack and two out of 18 threes, the DBB team was clearly ahead at half-time. After that, the guests turned up the heat and made the decision with a 20:8 start. In the third quarter, Germany scored more points (36) than in the entire first half (31). Head coach Herbert was able to take his important players off the field before the end of the game.
The World Cup qualification this summer is not only used to qualify for the 2023 event in Asia – but also to prepare for the home European Championship, which will take place from September 1st to 18th in Cologne and Berlin. Whoever makes it into the squad from the current team is completely open. Schröder is seeded, and things are also looking good for Bonga and Voigtmann, a Russian legionnaire who has been on a break for months. The rest face tough competition when missing captain Robin Benzing and the NBA pros join.
