Herbert retires without a medal
German bronze hope shattered by NBA giant Jokic
10.08.2024, 12:50
The time of national coach Gordon Herbert comes to an end without a medal. At the Olympic Games, the basketball world champions from Germany, after losing the semi-final against France, also lost the match for third place against the savvy Serbs.
The German world champions’ hopes of winning bronze were dashed by the best basketball player in the world: In the last game of the Gordon Herbert era, the team led by captain Dennis Schröder lost 83:93 (38:46) to Serbia and superstar Nikola Jokic in the small Olympic final in Paris. After the 2022 European Championship bronze and the sensational World Cup coup in Manila, the DBB team’s legendary medal run came to an end.
In the rematch of the World Cup final, Franz Wagner was the best scorer with 18 points for the German team, which had won 13 tournament games in a row until its semi-final defeat against France. Vasilije Micic (19 points) and Jokic, who had a brilliant triple-double (19 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists), were outstanding for the Serbs. Legendary coach Svetislav Pesic, who led Germany to the European Championship title in 1993, won his first Olympic medal 18 days before his 75th birthday.
Herbert’s players only had around 40 hours to shake off the huge disappointment of the avoidable 69:73 defeat against the hosts and win the historic first medal for the German men’s basketball team – seventh place in 1992 had been the best result to date. With Dirk Nowitzki, once again a noble fan in the front row on Saturday, they only managed tenth place in 2008. “A bronze medal would be something special,” said Herbert, who is giving up his post after three years and will coach double winners Bayern Munich in the future.
Jokic, always Jokic
But at the ungrateful hour of Saturday morning in the Bercy Arena, they faced an ungrateful opponent. The Serbs, led by superstar Jokic, three-time and current most valuable player (MVP) of the North American elite NBA, had, like Germany, conceded a “heartbreaker” (Herbert) in the semifinals, and had almost had the overwhelming gold favorites USA, led by superstars LeBron James and Stephen Curry, on the hook in the 91:95 with 40 minutes of team basketball at its finest.
“We have to play better than we did against France,” said forward Franz Wagner as a basic condition for reaching for bronze. That was too rarely achieved. Jokic, who was absent from the World Cup last year, made the German defense look helpless in the early stages of the game with his unique mixture of sheer power and playful genius. The exceptional player of the Denver Nuggets repeatedly created space for the excellent Serbian shooters, and the 21:30 deficit after ten minutes was the logical consequence.
Hardly easy points for Germany
Schröder, Franz Wagner and Co. hardly managed to score any easy points offensively. This was because the Serbs defended fanatically, but also because the Germans were sometimes abysmal in their finishing – 30 percent (10/33) hit rate from the field up to halftime, the Serbs were at 52. After the break, little changed: the Germans played with mistakes, while the Serbs were ice cold. With the score at 45:64 (26th) after a 0:10, the game was basically over.
With the end of the Olympic mission, perhaps not everything will change, but a lot will. The next international matches are scheduled for the European Championship qualifiers in November. The DBB will announce soon who will train the world champion instead of Herbert. The new national coach will take on a difficult legacy, but will also find a lot of potential.