European Championship
Schröder and Co. still want to fulfill their dream of winning a medal
Dennis Schröder talks to the referee during the half-time break. photo
© Soeren Stache/dpa
The disappointment about the semifinals is great among the German basketball players. But the European Championship is not over for Schröder and Co. yet. The big goal can still be reached.
After a night of disappointment, Germany’s basketball players are looking forward again. In the game for third place against Poland, Dennis Schröder and Co. want to bring their medal mission to a positive end on Sunday (5:15 p.m. / RTL and Magentasport). “We would make history and that is motivation enough for all of us,” said Schröder.
The professional, who is currently without a club in the NBA, was unable to prevent the extremely bitter semi-final against world champion Spain on Friday evening with a gala performance and 30 points. In the end it was 96:91 for the ripped-off Spaniards around Lorenzo Brown, who was naturalized shortly before the tournament (29 points). In the final on Sunday (8.30 p.m./Magentasport), Spain meets Olympic silver medalist France.
Wagner: “Today it hurts at first”
“We didn’t finish it well in the end,” said Johannes Thiemann. With seven points, the team of national coach Gordon Herbert was ahead at the beginning of the final quarter (77:70), but in the last six minutes the Germans didn’t succeed much, the decisive throws just didn’t want to succeed that evening. “Today it hurts first of all,” said NBA professional Franz Wagner, with 15 points the second best German thrower.
But on Sunday, the German team wants to get everything out again. “The greed is very big. It was a great summer. We have to throw everything in,” said Wagner. “It’s a very big thing to win a medal for the national team.” It would be Germany’s first medal in 17 years, when basketball legend Dirk Nowitzki led Germany to silver at the European Championships in Serbia. “Don’t let your head down, boys! Get bronze!” Nowitzki wrote on Friday evening from the stands via Twitter.
“People said that we wouldn’t even get through the preliminary round. We had a very, very tough round and got through it,” said Schröder. “With these guys in the dressing room, I’ll take any opponent. I love the guys, we gave everything.”