The German basketball players have won their second test game on the way to the European Championships.
The team around NBA pro Dennis Schröder won 68:66 (34:33) in the Netherlands on Friday evening. On Wednesday, the team of national coach Gordon Herbert had already narrowly prevailed in Belgium.
The best scorer in the German team, in which the two NBA pros Daniel Theis and Franz Wagner were spared, was Maodo Lo with 16 points. The European Championship will take place from 1 to 18 September with a preliminary round in Cologne and the final round in Berlin. Germany will play their next test games next weekend at the Supercup in Hamburg.
“We threw badly but found a way to win the game,” Herbert said after the match. “The boys gave everything for 40 minutes, I liked that. “
First Hamburg, then Sweden
From this Saturday on, the German players will once again enjoy the last three days off in the course of their preparation. Before that, however, Herbert wanted to cut the first players from his squad, which currently still consists of 17 players. “That’s always hard for the guys because they all deserved to be there,” said Schröder, who finished with 14 points.
The team will then meet in Hamburg on Tuesday. After that, it’s straight to Sweden, where a World Cup qualifying match is scheduled for 25 August in Stockholm. Three days later, the dress rehearsal for the European Championship will take place in Munich with the World Cup qualifier against European Championship co-favourites Slovenia.
Until then, the German team will have to improve considerably. Compared to the narrow victory in Belgium, Theis and Wagner, among others, were absent in Almere. Instead, Johannes Voigtmann and Lo were in the starting line-up, who had sat out the game in Belgium. In addition, the doubtful candidates Kenneth Ogbe and Leon Kratzer were given a chance to prove themselves.
A lot of time for Giffey and Benzing
Overall, Herbert gave a lot of playing time to those players who are still fighting for a place in the European Championship squad. Karim Jallow, Niels Giffey and Robin Benzing therefore also played a lot and in different constellations. This did not help the rhythm of the German team. The German team made many easy mistakes and scored poorly from distance. After the first quarter, Germany was consequently just behind (14:17).
In the second period, the gap grew to eight points, but key players like Lo and Schröder ensured that the German team was still just ahead at the break. After the change of ends, Herbert initially sent his best team onto the floor. Thiemann and Voigtmann in particular ensured that the lead grew to ten points before the final quarter (53:43). Although the hosts came back to within one point towards the end (64:65), Germany did not give up the victory.
