A good five and a half months after the coup in Manila, world champion Germany shone when they returned to the basketball floor, even without almost all of their gold heroes. At the start of qualifying for the 2025 European Championship, national coach Gordon Herbert’s selection dominated with only one World Cup champion in their ranks in Ludwigsburg Montenegro with 85:61 (47:30). Despite a weak phase, it became clear that the national team’s second suit also fits.
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At the world champion’s “homecoming”, as the German Basketball Federation (DBB) called it, Herbert, the NBA professionals around his captain Dennis Schröder and the Wagner brothers Franz and Moritz were not available, as is usual in such international game windows. The Canadian voluntarily gave up the other “golden boys” – apart from David Krämer – (“they need a break”) and opted for a B team in view of the expected upheaval after the Olympic Games in Paris in the summer.
“Rebounding will be important,” Herbert told MagentaSport before the game started, adding that his team had to “play physically” against the tall Montenegrins. And the starting five around Krämer, Nick Weiler-Babb, Jonas Mattisseck, Oscar da Silva and Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann started with great concentration. Montenegro, against whom the DBB selection had won with difficulty in the round of 16 on the way to European Championship 2022 bronze (85:79), initially found no means at all – neither at the front nor at the back.
A 16-0 score was on the scoreboard in the MHP Arena in the middle of the first quarter (6th), and Spanish legionnaire da Silva (FC Barcelona), who had been left out of the squad last year shortly before the World Cup, played particularly well. The hosts held on to the lead they had gained early on until the break.
2024-02-22 21:32:34
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