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Basketball-Off: The reasons for Germany's World Cup embarrassment

2019-09-03T19:25:24.171Z


The expectations were great, there was even talk of a medal. But after defeats in the first two World Cup games Germany has been eliminated. But how did the debacle come about?



"We have the best team that Germany has ever had," national coach Henrik Rödl had praised his team before the World Cup in China. But after a poor performance against France (74:78) and a blatant appearance against the Dominican Republic (68:70), this supposedly best German national basketball team has been eliminated in the preliminary round.

For German basketball this is a serious setback on two levels. There's the athletic component: the team had even been given outsider chances on a medal. At least the tournament should serve as a kind of starting ramp for the home European championship 2021, with which precious metal should be fetched. The World Cup achievements should have given these hopes a blow.

The video highlights to defeat the Dominican Republic:

Video

Swen gatekeeper / DPA

Add to that the component for the sport itself. So there will certainly be no basketball boom until the European Championships, this team could not be as enthusiastic as last the handball (fourth place) or hockey player (sixth place) at their respective World Championships in 2019. Also medially was probably a great opportunity squandered after the strong sixth place at the European Championship 2017. How big the spectator interest in the World Cup after the German Aus will be, is questionable.

But how did this debacle happen?

1. The defense

Actually, the defense should be the trump card. In fact, many mistakes were made that would not be expected from players of this quality. For one thing, Dennis Schröder got stuck on opposing blocks too often and played in one-on-one, causing the entire defensive to collapse. On the other hand, there was too much room near the basket for both the French and the Dominicans. Eloy Vargas, for example, gave the DBB team 14 of his 16 points from there.

That weakness had already hinted before the tournament: "We need to get a little more aggressive and physical in defense, where we need to step up to find our identity," Danilo Barthel said before the final friendly against Australia.

2. The static offensive

In the attack it was clear that everything would revolve around Schröder. He is the only player in the squad who can create degrees on an international level for himself. Of course, this makes the German game easily understandable, if Schröder does not find the right balance between his own qualification and passes to the other players. Some of his good games were wasted by his teammates, however, so forgiven the unlucky-looking Paul Zipser an important lay-off against the Dominican Republic.

And even Schröder's own decision-making was questionable. Against the Dominicans went in the closing phase only a risky alley oop pass on Daniel Theis wrong, shortly thereafter Schröder ran into two opponents.

But the blame is not alone for the 25-year-olds. The ball was moved too rarely, it was usually only two players in the hands of each attack before the conclusion was sought. The good and variable passing game from preparation was rarely visible in China. Also by NBA professional Maximilian Kleber came too little. He only scored two of his ten throws against France, but then he did not try against the Dominicans. The confidence he had shown in the past season with the Dallas Mavericks was gone.

photo gallery


7 pictures

Germany at the basketball World Cup: "That's great crap"

3. The setting

In both games, the Germans lacked the necessary intensity, especially at the start of the match: France led 14: 0, the Dominican Republic 8: 0 before Germany scored the first points.

This shortcoming was particularly clear against the team from the Caribbean, a blatant outsider. Despite their physical inferiority, the Dominicans took more offensive rebounds, every successful action was cheered frenetically, and from minute to minute they became more secure. Meanwhile, the Germans sometimes argued with the referee rather than sprinting back into the defense. "We have not done enough, not enough invested," said captain Robin Benzing after the second game "basketball.de": "We should be ashamed that today we were not hungry than they."

After all, some damage limitation is possible. In the games for places 17 to 32, it is still about Germany to earn the participation in one of the Olympic qualifiers, in order to have at least a small chance to Tokyo 2020. It now requires victories against Jordan on Thursday (10.30, live ticker SPIEGEL, TV: MagentaSport) and against Canada and Senegal. After the previous performances a big challenge.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2019-09-03

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