Mith strong nerves in the final quarter, the German basketball players celebrated their first victory in the Olympic tournament and kept their chance of advancing. The team of national coach Henrik Rödl defeated Nigeria with 99:92 (50:50) in the Saitama Super Arena this Wednesday and can continue to hope for the quarter-finals after the opening defeat against Italy. The best German thrower was Johannes Voigtmann with 19 points. In the third quarter, the German team was already behind with eleven points, but fought back strongly.
In the last game of the preliminary round, the selection of the German Basketball Federation will meet medal candidate Australia on Saturday. Second place in the group is certainly enough for the round of the best eight teams, and two out of three thirds in the table also advance.
Quarter-finals would be a great success
At the last Olympic participation in Beijing in 2008, the German team led by superstar Dirk Nowitzki failed in the preliminary round. Even without numerous NBA professionals like leader Dennis Schröder, there is now a great chance of the knockout round.
The German team got off to a strong start against Nigeria, which had clearly lost their first game against Australia. Offensively, Maodo Lo distributed the ball and allowed easy points close to the basket. In defense, the DBB selection allowed only seven points in the first six minutes and was now in the lead with 22:12.
Eight NBA players in Nigeria
But Nigeria slowly came into play. The team with a total of eight NBA professionals in the squad – only the USA has top favorites at these Olympic Games – kept the game open with numerous successful three-point throws. At 24:27 at the beginning of the second quarter, Germany was behind for the first time since the beginning.
An even game developed. After a spectacular dunking by Moritz Wagner, who was born in Berlin, the German bank jumped up closed. The 24-year-old provided energy and, alongside center Johannes Voigtmann, was the best thrower before the break with twelve points.
But negligence crept in again and again, the German team allowed themselves eight ball losses in the first half. At the throw-in Lo passed the ball to the opponent, but the offensive player from Alba Berlin was able to shine and equalized to 50:50 just before the half-time break.
Far behind
However, the start of the second half failed completely. The Nigerians met four threes in a row, quickly moved away to 66:55. Above all, Voigtmann and Wagner kept the German team in the game. With a threesome and his first points in the game, Niels Giffey of many years from Berlin equalized the game with the final siren of the third quarter to 74:74.
It was a nerve-racking thriller in the final section. No team was initially able to work out a big lead. But when Danilo Barthel, who was particularly strong in the end, brought his team forward to 88:81 four minutes before the end, the team cheered collectively. Andreas Obst made the preliminary decision with a three-point – the German hope for the quarter-finals is alive.
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