. The German basketball players ended the double pack against Israel on Friday and Monday with two wins and are about to jump into the second phase of the World Cup qualification. The gripping finish left its mark on Gordon Herbert, his nerves were severely strained. “I’ve had gray hair for a long time,” emphasized the national coach after his basketball team’s hard-fought second victory over Israel within four days.
The national team is fully on track in the World Cup qualifiers. Since the false start against Estonia, Germany has won all three internationals on the way to the 2023 World Cup. Even if, despite the 84:80 (39:34) on Monday, the leap into the second qualifying phase was not successful, things are looking great. “We have control in the group,” said Herbert at MagentaSport.
With seven out of eight possible points, the selection of the German Basketball Federation (DBB) leads in Season D ahead of Israel (6). If Estonia (6) hadn’t lost against Poland (5) at the same time, the DBB team would already have gone through. But there is no doubt that this will succeed in the remaining games in late June/early July. Further victories are doubly important, all results are taken with you.
NBA professionals there
Herbert can probably rely on the NBA pros in the summer, since their season in North America will then be over. Players from EuroLeague clubs will also be there for the same reason – and the SNP Dome showed just how valuable reinforcement can be.
Maodo Lo, who, like his Berlin club colleague Johannes Thiemann and Munich’s Andreas Obst, were not in Tel Aviv on Friday because of their European commitments, was the top scorer on Monday with 18 points. Obst managed a very important steal 26 seconds before the end, Thiemann grabbed three rebounds in a good 30 seconds in the hot phase.
“They give us more quality, have a lot of experience,” said Herbert (63) about the latecomers. Everything didn’t work out with the trio either, especially in the third quarter when Israel pulled away to 15 points. But the DBB team fought back against the defeat and earned the two points.
Because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, basketball was just a side issue for captain Robin Benzing. “We have to do our job. But our thoughts are with the people in Ukraine.” The German basketball players continue on June 30 in Estonia and on July 3 against Poland, three teams advance.
DBB President Ingo Weiss firmly believes that NBA star Dennis Schröder will be there in September at the home European Championships with a preliminary round in Cologne and the final round in Berlin, he told Magenta Sport. sid
