Clear victory against Brazil: German basketball players buy Olympic tickets


Clear victory against Brazil
German basketball players buy an Olympic ticket

For the first time since 2008, the German basketball players will take part in the Olympic Games. In the final of the qualifying tournament, the team of the German Basketball Federation showed nerves and won after an early deficit against Brazil in the end confidently.

The German basketball players have fulfilled their dream of the Olympics with an impressive amount of energy. The team of national coach Henrik Rödl won the final of the qualifying tournament against Brazil in Split with 75:64 (36:34) and, driven by the missing NBA star Dennis Schröder in the stands, secured the ticket to Tokyo. The best German thrower against strong South Americans was NBA professional Moritz Wagner with 28 points. Most recently, the selection of the German Basketball Federation was in Beijing in 2008 with superstar and flag bearer Dirk Nowitzki at the Olympic Games.

Solvable tasks await the German team in Tokyo. In Group B, the DBB selection meets Australia, Nigeria and Serbia or Italy, who faced each other in the final of the qualifying tournament in Belgrade on Sunday evening. The preliminary round begins on July 25th with a duel against Serbia or Italy.

The German team had to do without Isaac Bonga in the Spaladium Arena. The NBA pro twisted in the semifinals against Croatia on Saturday and had to pass. Rödl relied on experience in his starting five and brought, among other things, the Berlin Maodo Lo, who had surpassed the tournament host with 29 points the day before. The DBB selection started well and scored the first two threesomes. Then the expected tough fight developed against the South Americans, who had previously won all of their three games in Split by more than 25 points. Both teams had to work hard for every point and, as expected, defensive trumps. After the first quarter Germany was just behind (14:17), the dream of the Olympics lived on.

Pure joy in the end

Especially when Germany came out of the third break and Wagner made a strong signal with a cracking dunking at 23:19 and forced the Brazilians to take a break. Germany then moved up to eleven points (34:23). In the last minutes of the second quarter, however, the Brazilians shortened again, so that everything was still open at the break (36:34).

But Germany was not deterred by the Brazilian race to catch up. The South Americans took the lead for a short time, but then the German team, led by Wagner, pulled away a little. Before the final section, the German team was six points ahead. Even in the last ten minutes it was a tough fight for every throw. Germany was able to slowly pull away, with 67:56 just under three minutes before the end they were again comfortably ahead. In the final phase, Captain Robin Benzing & Co. kept their nerve, the rest was just pure joy.

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