After the early qualification for the 2023 World Cup, the German basketball players end their festive year with a defeat. In the last international match in 2022, the bronze medalist at the European Championship narrowly loses to Slovenia. National coach Gordon Herbert praises the fighting spirit of the weakened team.
The German basketball players suffered a defeat at the end of a successful year. The team of national coach Gordon Herbert, which was severely weakened due to scheduling conflicts, lost to the Slovenians 75:81 (34:41) on Monday evening in Koper and thus had to accept the second defeat in the World Cup qualifier. Germany had already qualified for the tournament in Asia 2023 on Friday.
“We never gave up, we kept fighting,” said Herbert at Magentasport. Also for leading player Christian Sengfelder it was not because of the attitude. “I wouldn’t say that there was a lack of motivation. But they did what they wanted with us offensively. We weren’t physically strong enough,” admitted the Bamberg professional.
The Germans’ best thrower was David Krämer with 21 points. Jordan Morgan (22 points, 13 rebounds) and Ziga Samar (14 points, 12 assists) played excellent offenses for Slovenia. Germany have two remaining qualifiers against Sweden and Finland in February and are still fighting for top spot in their group. For the Slovenians, the World Cup ticket is now also solved with the home win.
Even without the missing NBA stars around Dallas Mavericks leader Luka Doncic, Dennis Schröder and Franz Wagner, who are currently required in North America, attractive basketball was offered in the first quarter. Germany quickly took a 6-2 lead, and a dunk by Sengfelder sparked enthusiasm in the DBB team. After that, the lead changed back and forth: First, the Slovenians, who were also severely weakened from the reserve, managed a 12:2 run, then the Germans passed again and led 24:16 at the quarter-break.
Although head coach Herbert announced that he would take the game seriously despite having mastered the qualification, this time he distributed the minutes to more players. All twelve nominees were used in the first half. On Friday, at the 94:80 against Finland in Bamberg, the main focus was on the bronze medalist Justus Hollatz, who had to leave early this time, and Sengfelder as well as Krämer. This time Lukas Wank and Gavin Schilling were also present as bench players from the start.
At half-time, the Slovenians, who enjoyed rather little support from the half-empty ranks, led by seven points after a strong final sprint. After the change, Herbert’s protégés didn’t give up, but Slovenia was too strong this time, even without Doncic and the other stars. Germany was particularly weak from the three-point line. The final offensive, in which the guests came back to four points, came too late.
The field is also becoming more concrete apart from the German team, which wants to fight for a World Cup medal from August 25th to September 10th, 2023. European champions Spain bought the ticket as did the Italians, and the Latvians will also be there in Asia. In addition to the Europeans, New Zealand, Australia and Canada have already qualified. Which nation plays in which country will only be clarified by the draw in spring 2023. Four preliminary round groups will rise in the Philippines, two each in Japan and Indonesia. The final round will be played in the greater Manila area.
