After the end of the game there was anything but exuberance. The German national basketball team refrained from celebrating, both directly on the floor and on the way to the locker room. Maodo Lo almost scowled, Johannes Voigtmann answered even more unemotionally than usual, Moritz Wagner needed a moment to rediscover his flippant sense of humour.
The fact that the Germans had just won their fourth game of the World Cup – the first in the second round – against Georgia was hardly noticeable. They had presented themselves too changeable, too lacking in energy in the first half with a clear 100:73 in the Okinawa Arena.
The basic conditions before the game were good: Dennis Schröder had reported new freshness in view of two days without a game, national coach Gordon Herbert about a good training session on Thursday. Even Franz Wagner’s left ankle, which has been injured since the start of the World Cup, is still on the mend. When his eleven teammates entered the field to warm up on Friday, Wagner was standing in the third row behind the gang and the substitutes’ bench – without the bulky special shoes of the past few days, but in a polo shirt and long tracksuit bottoms.
Problems with the physique of Georgians
His failure was bearable, was the tenor before the game. Georgia is not Slovenia, Germany is a big favorite even without Wagner. Unlike on Sunday, then actually against Slovenia, against Luka Doncic, in a possible decisive game for the quarter-finals (1.10 p.m. / live on Magenta TV). Then you would really need Wagner. So don’t take any risks. Herbert would have liked to have had the Orlando Magic’s great winger in his ranks against Georgia. The Canadian warned of the opponent’s physique.
Herbert thought of Goga Bitadze, 2.11 meters long and 110 kilograms, teammate of the Wagner brothers in Orlando. He immediately hit a threesome instead of scoring near the basket. Georgia was initially ahead of the Germans with its hit rate. Only Daniel Theis (eleven points) lived up to expectations. The NBA professional flexibly defended various Georgians, worked hard under the baskets and scored the first five points for Germany. He was then replaced by Johannes Thiemann (eleven).
The mood was good: German fans in the hall : Photo: Reuters
The center had already led the “second five” against Finland, with other players from the bench such as Justus Hollatz, Moritz Wagner and Niels Giffey turning an early deficit into a lead. Gordon Herbert also relied on his second guard against Georgia, and they thanked him. The ball movement became more fluid, the defense more intense, the accuracy greater. Thiemann scored after an offensive rebound and a nice pass relay despite a foul, Moritz Wagner (14) followed suit, the “first five” clenched their fists on the bench. So did the overall pale Johannes Voigtmann, who said after the game about the 10-0 run at the end of the first quarter: “The second guard kept us in the game today. When she came in, there was a push.”
Ahs and ohs for the Germans
It was often much more complicated when Germany’s first guard was on the floor. Dennis Schröder, for example, helped Moritz Wagner with a crashing dunk with a pass behind his back, came up with 16 points and seven assists, but didn’t dominate like he did last time. The balance between organizing and attacking was not always right for him on Friday. Worse still, instead of twirling through the opponent’s zone with nimble feet, he hobbled into the dressing room in the second half. He came back from that, but not back onto the field. “An upper body injury,” said his coach. It remains unclear whether Schröder will fail on Sunday.
But even without the central build-up player, the team-mates found their rhythm in attack. As so often, Andreas Obst (12) converted two threes without a hitch in a difficult phase. With a hit rate of 67 percent, he showed what he was capable of at the right moment. With ahs and ohs, the spectators in the stands of the Okinawa Arena accompanied the now impressive teamwork (33 assists!) and the growing lead. Maodo Lo, the second playmaker behind Schröder, was responsible for the high end result.
Jürgen Kalwa, New York Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 2 A comment by Pirmin Clossé Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 20 Stefan Koch Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 3
The hero of the win over Australia started a three-point show in the final quarter. Six attempts – six hits, sometimes unchallenged, sometimes after a little dance with the opponent, once even by throwing over the board. Almost single-handedly, Lo increased his team’s three-pointer quota to an exceptional 57 percent, one percent more than the exceptionally poor free-throw result. It was also a reason for Lo (18) to say after the end of the game: “We probably played our worst half of the tournament.” He was by no means satisfied with the game. In other words, things have to get better against Slovenia on Sunday.
