Basketball European Championship: “It was clear that we can do it”: Germany defeats Doncic

Franz Wagner let the muscles play, Dennis Schröder gave his wife a kiss: Basketball world champion Germany cleared a major hurdle at the European Championship and plays for the longed-for medals after a nerve thriller in the quarter-finals. “I’m extremely proud,” said Schröder at RTL: “It was a complete team performance. Player of the day is the team.”

Despite a gigantic show by NBA star Luka Doncic, the German team prevailed in the quarter-finals against Slovenia with 99:91 (45:51) and is therefore at home in the semi-finals like 2022.

“It was a very tough game, very emotional. We slowly fought ourselves. We used the longer bank and at the end did the important plays,” said interim national coach Alan Ibrahimagic after the highly explosive quarter-finals from Riga. The surprise team from Finland is waiting in the preliminary round on Friday (4 p.m./RTL/Magenta Sport). Greece and Turkey face each other in the other semi -finals (8:00 p.m.).

“Really disgusted work victory”

For the day exactly two years after the sensational World Cup triumph in Manila, Franz Wagner was in the German team despite the weak quota with 23 points of the German team, which made a big comeback in the heated game. Franz ‘brother Moritz said as a TV expert in Magentasport: “It was a really disgusting work victory. They are also part of such championships.”

In addition to 39 points, Doncic from the Los Angeles Lakers also came to ten rebounds and seven assists, but received too little support from his team, especially after the break. Germany has so far won all seven games at the European Championship and is considered the gold medal as a top favor after the end of Serbia and France.

“Luka will score his points, we have to look at ourselves and stop Slovenia as a team,” Ibrahimagic said before the game. “It would be a big mistake to just look at Luka.”

And yet everything was about the Slovenian playmaker right from the start. Doncic quickly met two fouls, but then took over the scepter and ensured that the Isaac Bonga, which was responsible for his defense, also had two quick fouls.

Doncic marked ten points in front of 9,038 spectators in the first quarter. Since other players that have not yet been particularly convincing in the tournament have increased at his side, Germany was left with eleven points after the first ten minutes (21:32).

Unrest is noticeable

In the days before the duel with Doncic and Co. there had been unusually unrest in the German camp. At first attempts had been made to change the team hotel, since the accommodation in the Latvian capital was too loud and, above all, the food was not good enough. For cost reasons, a move did not come about.

Then the partial withdrawal of national coach Alex Mumbru determined the headlines. The Spaniard, which was still in the health after his pancreatitis, had announced on Monday that the coaching was left to his assistant Ibrahimagic during the games as during the successful preliminary round in Finnish Tampere.

As head coach, Mumbru was further involved in the team and the preparation and follow-up. The team gathered behind the successor of World Champion coach Gordon Herbert in a media round and thus strengthened his back to the visibly battered Spaniard.

Ibrahimagic is responsible

During the game it was Ibrahimagic who coached the team. Mumbru was sitting on the bench behind him and chasing the game while sitting. The Spaniard only occasionally got up to give a few instructions.

The hustle and bustle in the days of Riga did not seem to be good for the team. Nobody wanted to pay the right game in the second quarter. But at least the world champion fought back and made up for a 13-point deficit. Schröder managed to equalize at 39:39, but Germany was still six points behind at half -time. Doncic had already collected 22 points after 20 minutes.

Spectacular litter from behind the center line

At the beginning of the second half, Doncic quickly collected his fourth foul. But at first, Germany could not make profit from it. Schröder and Co. looked hectic, never found their quick game. The world champion continued to stand behind.

With the final siren of the third quarter, Tristan da Silva achieved a threesome with a spectacular litter behind the center line, a threesome melted through the deficit before the final section to four points (70:74). “It was definitely a very important moment for us,” said Ibrahimagic.

Now the German team was finally wide awake. In the final quarter, the gold favorite had been solved and turned the emotional duel with the 2017 European champion.