By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
A spectacular third period (26-10) and some tremendous 3-point shooting (17-31) pushed Germany to a 107 – 96 win over Greece in the 2022 EuroBasket quarterfinals. The German side is back in the Top 4 of a EuroBasket after 2005 when Dirk Nowitzki led the team to the silver medal.
Dennis Schroder scored a team-high 26 points and dished out five assists until he got ejected late in the fourth period with a fifth foul. Andreas Obst added 19 points while Franz Wagner also dropped 19 points and, together with Daniel Theis (13 points, 16 rebounds) was a pivotal part of Germany’s “Wall Defense” that contained Giannis Antetokounmpo for a large part of the decisive second half.
“It was a really physical game,” Wagner said. “We did a great job collectively guarding them in the second half and after that, we made our run. You really have to enjoy these opportunities and I want to make the most of it.”
Giannis was near-unstoppable in the first half with 19 points and eight assists and had 12 points afterward for a total of 31 before his ejection with five minutes to play and Greece down 96 – 82. German was in complete control after dominating since the beginning of the second half.
The signs were quite positive for Greece at the break as Kostas Sloukas beat the buzzer from half court to give his team a 57 – 61 lead after a comeback from down 11 (25-14) in the first quarter. Germany though entered the second half with a powerful performance on both ends and made a 20-1 run to go up 77 – 61 with three minutes to play in the period.
“Congratulations to Germany, they deserved to win – they were the better team,” Greece coach Dimitris Itoudis. “We were chasing a lot of the time because of the fact that they shot extremely well. We were giving them confidence right away. The players fought like lions. But that third quarter hurt us a lot, we were not making shots; missing layups, open looks, and free throws. We really enjoyed the journey. We wanted to go more, but it didn’t happen this time.”
Giannis became the only Greece player to make a basket in the third quarter and tried to initiate a comeback but had little help overall save from Giannoulis Larentzakis (18 points on 5-5 shots). The Greek Freak cut the deficit to single digits, 87 – 78, with eight minutes, only for Germany to respond with a 9 – 2 run and then increase its advantage to 103 – 82 to get the qualification in a sounding manner.
The party started early and as coach Gordon Herbert revealed, his players asked him to do what coach Gianmarko Pozzecco did for his players after beating Italy, but Herbert declined for a good reason: “Dennis [Schroeder] asked for my credit card. I said I’ve been divorced three times, you’re not going to like the limit on it”.
Photo: FIBA Basketball