The last test before the home European Championships in Cologne and Berlin is a World Cup qualifier for the German basketball players – against the reigning European Championship champion. Its superstar Luka Doncic shows his quality, but the DBB team pushes Slovenia’s game. Now the goal is: medal.
With a brilliant surprise win against NBA superstar Luka Doncic, the German basketball players have set the long-awaited exclamation mark before the home European Championship. At the atmospheric EM dress rehearsal in Munich, captain Dennis Schröder and Co. set off fireworks against defending champion Slovenia and won in a highly impressive manner with 90:71 (33:31).
“Today it was a feat of strength, we didn’t throw great, but such victories feel even better,” said Franz Wagner at MagentaSport and was full of anticipation for the European Championship: “It’s going to be really cool.” Andreas Obst added: “We want to go as far as possible.”
On their self-proclaimed medal mission, the injury-plagued Germans really gained momentum for the European Championship opener on Thursday (8:30 p.m. / MagentaSport) in Cologne against France with the victory in the World Cup qualifier, which was so important for the atmosphere before the tournament. Schröder was the best German scorer with 17 points and 10 assists, Doncic (Dallas Mavericks) had 23 points.
However, the victory over the Slovenians is not important for the mood. In qualifying group J for the 2023 World Cup in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, Germany is still excellent in the race with seven wins and one loss. The first three of the six teams ultimately go to the World Cup.
While Schröder played against Slovenia from the start despite his injured ankle, NBA star Daniel Theis, who had an injured knee, was still absent – but took a few throws before the game in the Audi Dome. He feels “pretty good,” said Theis at MagentaSport and was “very confident” about participating in the European Championship. A decision should be made by Tuesday at the latest.
In order to stop Doncic, coach Gordon Herbert offered the naturalized Nick Weiler-Babb in the starting five alongside Schröder. “We want to see where we are right now,” Schröder had said beforehand – Doncic’s team was the ideal opponent for that. Not only because the Slovenians are also waiting in the EM group on September 6th. According to Guard Maodo Lo, the game is “important to get close to the level of the European Championship”.
But first Doncic turned up the heat and immediately reported for duty with two converted threes – after just ten minutes the 23-year-old had eleven points on the account. The Germans scored too weakly from the field at the beginning, but released their three-point shooters over time – especially fruit. Since the Herbert team, especially on the offensive board, grabbed the rebounds and Doncic didn’t allow a single point in the second quarter, Germany suddenly led 33:24 after a 7:0 run.
Even after the break, in which the Germans went with a narrow two-point lead, the defensive stood like a wall. So rock solid, after three quarters the hosts had gotten 49 rebounds that Doncic was also kept at 13 points for a long time. Meanwhile, the Germans continued to score routinely. The impressive 61:48 lead after the third quarter was extended by a DBB team playing like unleashed in the final round. Schröder sank two threes – and made the Audi Dome tremble.
