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This time he was left behind: superstar Luka Dončić (left), here against Andreas Obst
Photo:
IMAGO/EIBNER/Guener Santemiz / IMAGO/Eibner
The German basketball players set an exclamation mark immediately before the home EM.
The team around NBA professional Dennis Schröder defeated European champion Slovenia with superstar Luka Dončić clearly 90:71 (33:31) in Munich and thus achieved the seventh victory in the World Cup qualifier.
The team of national coach Gordon Herbert can almost certainly plan to participate in the 2023 World Cup.
The best German thrower in front of 6136 spectators in the sold-out Audi Dome was NBA professional Dennis Schröder with 17 points.
Dončić got 23 points, but that wasn't enough for the European Championship favorites.
"Today it was a feat of strength, we didn't throw great, but such victories feel even better," said Franz Wagner at MagentaSport and was full of anticipation for the European Championship: "It's going to be really cool." Andreas Obst added: " We want to go as far as possible.«
On their self-proclaimed medal mission, the injury-plagued Germans picked up momentum for the European Championship opener on Thursday (8:30 p.m. / Stream: MagentaSport) in Cologne against France thanks to the victory in the World Cup qualifier, which was so important for the atmosphere before the tournament.
In order to stop Dončić, who plays for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA, Herbert called up the naturalized Nick Weiler-Babb in the starting five alongside Schröder.
"We want to see where we are right now," Schröder had said beforehand - Dončić's team was the ideal opponent for that.
Not only because the Slovenians are also waiting in the EM group on September 6th.
According to guard Maodo Lô, the game is "important to approach the level of the European Championship".
Germany's defense stops Dončić
But first Dončić turned up the heat and sunk two threes – after just ten minutes the 23-year-old had eleven points.
The Germans scored too weakly from the field at first, but over time released their three-point shooters – especially fruit.
Since the Herbert team grabbed the rebounds, especially on the offensive board, and Dončić didn't allow a single point in the second quarter, Germany suddenly led 33:24 after a 7:0 run.
Even after the break, when the Germans went into a narrow two-point lead, the defensive stood like a wall.
So rock solid, after three quarters the hosts had picked up 49 rebounds, so that Dončić was also kept at 13 points for a long time.
Meanwhile, the Germans continued to score routinely.
The impressive 61:48 lead after the third quarter was extended by a DBB team playing like unleashed in the final round.
Schröder sank two threes.
kjo/dpa/sid