“It was already clear to me that this was coming.” Franz Wagner replied pointedly when asked whether the Spaniards were a bit more ripped off than the German team. “We lost, it’s hurting right now. Everyone can decide for themselves whether it was because of that.” The disappointment was great after the 96:91 defeat in the semi-finals of the European Basketball Championship against Spain in Berlin, in which the German national team once again put in a strong performance and had good chances of leaving the floor as the winner. Ultimately, however, one had to get exactly the impression that Wagner was so reluctant to hear.
In the third quarter, the Spaniards were a double-digit deficit (71:61), Wagner himself and Dennis Schröder had thrown a 77:70 lead in the final section, but Spain never let themselves be discouraged. It was impressive how calm and confident this team responded to every setback. “This team knows how to win,” stated national coach Gordon Herbert, visibly dismayed after the defeat. No nation has been in a European Championship semi-final as often as Spain: eleven times in the past eleven tournaments. They are also the current world champion.
Their Italian coach Sergio Scariolo said: “We had the calm to make the right decisions in the decisive phases.” It’s true, while the German team seemed increasingly hectic and looked for the end too early or too risky, the Spaniards played out their strengths calmly and routinely. And they had some to offer: In the final section, the Hernangomez brothers Willy (17 points) and Juancho (13), as well as Usman Garuba, who all earn their money in the North American professional league NBA, cleaned up with enormous physique under the baskets – and scored well on offense. No throw, no lay-up was allowed to the German players without fierce resistance. Daniel Theis, until then an effective player under the generic basket with ten points, was no longer able to finish successfully. Even Dennis Schröder, the best German player on the field and top scorer with 30 points, didn’t set any more accents in the final phase.
Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo makes a few defensive adjustments with resounding success
Because the intensity in the defense of the DBB selection decreased, in which primarily Nick Weiler-Babb and Johannes Thiemann did first-class work, the Spaniards ultimately pulled away decisively. “They made some adjustments on offense and defense, and you have to give them credit for that,” said Captain Schröder afterwards. With his powerful defenders, Spain’s coach Scariolo slowed down the German attacking game. Up until then, the nimble attackers Schröder and Wagner, who collected 15 points, had always successfully pulled to the basket, but these paths were now blocked for them.
The throws from a distance didn’t want to be made either, Andreas Obst, who contributed 15 points with a good three-point quota, was prevented from doing so. Perhaps coach Herbert stuck to his starting lineup for too long in the last quarter, Maodo Lo and Johannes Voigtmann, who played a strong tournament, hardly got a chance.
Using the bench was a strength of the Germans in the tournament so far, but the Spaniards did better tonight. Alberto Diaz (13 points) and the indestructible 37-year-old veteran Rudy Fernandez (10), the only remnant of the golden generation, the team that had dominated European basketball for years, scored crucial points. The Spaniards also had US playmaker Lorenzo Brown, who was naturalized just before the tournament, a player who was responsible for most of the “right decisions” mentioned by the coach in the last quarter. Either he scored himself (29) or he staged the taller colleagues under the basket.
Captain Dennis Schröder’s 30 points weren’t enough to qualify for the final either.
(Photo: Marc Niemeyer/Kolbert-Press/Imago)
The German team was ultimately beaten by an opponent who has a similar shape. While the tournament favorites Greece, Serbia and Slovenia, who know the NBA top players Giannis Antetokoumpo, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic in their ranks, had to return home early, Spain and Germany are teams that make the collective strong. That evening, that of the Spaniards was the better, the victory was deserved.
Now that they meet France in the final, the Germans will be looking to win the medal they are aiming for in the third-place play-off against Poland. After a desolate performance by the Olympic silver medalist, Poland was humiliated with 54:95 points, no reason to underestimate their opponents, as Andreas Obst warned: “They’re a strong team, they want to grab a medal like us.”
“We can learn a lot from this defeat,” said Franz Wagner, referring to the game against Poland. “It’s not over yet. We still have a game on Sunday.”