“Greek freak” to Montenegro?
Basketball players with courage in the “death knockout phase”
09/10/2022, 09:19 am
Berlin is calling! After the great preliminary round, the German basketball players are the favorites to go into the round of 16 against Montenegro. But after that they could meet a real chunk – and challenge one of the best professionals in the world: the “Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Gordon Herbert swore his medal hunters to the next European Championship party against Montenegro in the “Embassy I” room of the chic Sheraton Berlin Grand Hotel Esplanade – and pushed thoughts of a mega showdown with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo far away. “We’re preparing 100 percent for Montenegro and have no idea who we’re going to play against afterwards,” said the national basketball coach.
As soon as captain Dennis Schröder and Co. threw their first baskets in the Berlin Arena, Herbert issued an urgent warning. “We were just in the death group, now the death knockout phase is coming. Every team can beat any other team,” said Herbert before the European Championship round of 16 in the evening (6 p.m. / MagentaSport and in the ntv.de live ticker).
After the great preliminary round in Cologne, the final round in the capital is now getting really serious. Bankruptcy – and the dream of the third European Championship medal after gold in 1993 and silver in 2005 suddenly burst. The enthusiastically celebrated victories in the preliminary round against fellow favorites France and above all Lithuania raised expectations, the Germans play against Montenegro not without pressure to succeed.
Co-captain Johannes Voigtmann would like to take “the euphoria and everything that happened around it” from Cologne to the Berlin Arena at Ostbahnhof, where up to 14,500 fans can be there – but Voigtmann warned at the same time: “We must not rest on our laurels now . We certainly don’t get anything for free here.” In the quarter-finals on Tuesday, the Greeks, led by two-time NBA MVP Antetokounmpo, could wait, but they first have to get the Czech Republic out of the way on Sunday (8:45 p.m. / MagentaSport).
“A Little Bitten in the Ass”
That could have been avoided had the Germans also beaten Slovenia and qualified for the lower half of the tournament tree as Group B winners. “We also bit our ass a bit,” said Berlin-born Niels Giffey, “because that might even be the simpler part of the tree.”
But that’s done, now the full focus is on Montenegro. The Herbert team traveled to Berlin on Thursday, some players trained lightly in the hall, but basically it was about clearing your head. The detailed opponent analysis followed on Friday. “This is a very good basketball team with an incredible basketball culture,” said Herbert, who drew the comparison to Bosnia-Herzegovina, which made life difficult for Germany in the group stage.
“They are very physical, big and play hard,” said the coach. Especially the 2.05 meter long forward Bojan Dubljevic, who plays in Valencia EuroLeague, is a challenge under the basket. However, it is also true that Montenegro lost the top games in its Group A against Spain and Turkey.
It would have been important, especially with regard to defense, that Herbert could fall back on Nick Weiler-Babb on Saturday. The defense specialist injured his shoulder against Slovenia on Tuesday and is in danger of being out. The naturalized American from Bayern Munich has meanwhile traveled to the Isar for treatment. “He’s coming back today,” Herbert said. “He’s very questionable.”