Germany ended this Wednesday with the great role of the Latvian National Team in the FIBA World Cup 2023played in Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia, with a long-suffering and hard-fought victory, 81-79, with which they sealed their pass to the Semifinals, in which they will face USA.
The World Cup Semifinals are already defined. Germany is back in that round 21 years after the last time, the one against Argentina in the United States in 2002. This time it will come undefeated (5 victories) to the biggest challenge of ending North American favoritism, which after losing to Lithuania swept the Italy and reached the match prior to the Grand Final. Of course, to achieve this, Germany suffered much more against Latvia than in their previous duels, in which their dominance was overwhelming.
Davis Bertans had the historic pass to the Semifinals in his hands with a triple at the buzzer that ran into the ring. A shot that silenced the Latvian fans for the first time, who were in charge of giving color to the Indonesian headquarters and which did not fail on their transfer to Manila, Philippines.
It was their country’s first participation in a World Cup and they reached the Quarterfinals against Germany Dennis Shroder having lost surprise status along the way for his solid performances.
Because his great start to the tournament did not go unnoticed at the Mall of Asia in Manila. A torrent of play and clinical precision from the line of three with a perfectly oiled outside game. But it is that even knowing how this Latvia plays does not seem to be a remedy, at least in the early stages.
This is how Germany suffered it, as Spain, France, Canada or Brazil suffered at the time. The score was 3-13 at minute five after a 0-11 run. Davis Bertans, with three triples in the first quarter, led the Latvian offense, always escorted by the tireless Rolands Smits, defensive support, and Arturs Zagars, omnipresent.
But Germany, which had reached 100 points in the last three World Cup matches, was not scared, aware that it had the tools to stop the bleeding. In fact, he did it without his star, a Shroder who couldn’t beat the Latvian wall (13-16) until the third quarter.
Germany maintained their good momentum in the second quarter and took the lead for the second time in the clash with a dunk from Mortiz Wagener that forced the Latvians to call a time-out, who, despite having stopped Shroder, without score in the entire first half, they were surpassed on the scoreboard (36-34).
Schroder needed thirteen attempts to inaugurate his record. He got his first basket in the third quarter, just at the key moment of the game, just when the exchange of blows began. No one managed to increase the revenue, the score remained even at the end of the third quarter (62-59) with Bertans holding from the line of three. The maximum equality predicted a last quarter of a heart attack.
Germany tried to avoid it with a spectacular start in which in less than two minutes they sealed a key 8-0 run (70-59). It seemed like it was enough, but Latvia once again showed that it was always more than a surprise. They cut back, turned off the German attack with a 0-8 run and with two spectacular baskets from Zagars (24 points) reduced the gap to two points (81-79). Shroder missed and the last possession was for Latvia. Bertans, the most successful from the arc, played the triple of the game without success.
Germany ended the Latvian dream. A hard-fought victory without its star, a Dennis Shroder minimized by the Baltic defense, which allows him to return to a Semifinal, 21 years later, in which he will face the almighty United States.
(With information from EFE)
2023-09-06 14:28:00
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