By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Although NBA-star, Dennis Schröder has led Germany for the most part of the tournament, it was Boston Celtic newest member, Daniel Theis that hit key shots in crunch time for Germany on his way to a career night. The Germans got the 84-81 win and the ticket to the quarterfinals.
This marks the first time that Germany has reached the final-8 in the last 10 years, while France will fail to make the quarter-final phase for the first time since 1997.
The star: Theis was superb for Germany leading his team with big shots mostly in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 22 points on 8/9 FG attempts, a new personal best with the German national team. Schröder didn’t necessarily have a great shooting night (5/15 FG’s) but was clutch from the charity stripe with 11/11 free-throws and scored in total 21 points.
The thriller: France started the game well due to a great job on on-ball defense and had the advantage in the first half leading 40-34. Even though their star had an off scoring night it was a team effort by Germany that managed to keep them close in the game. Finally, the Germans got the lead in the fourth quarter thanks to Theis and led even by nine points (77-68) with two minutes left. Despite the fact that Evan Fournier who registered also a personal best with the
Finally, the Germans got the lead in the fourth quarter thanks to Theis and led even by nine points (77-68) with two minutes left. Evan Fournier who registered also a personal best with the French national team made it a two points game (81-79), France couldn’t get any closer.
Fournier led France in scoring with 27 points while Nando de Colo missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Photo credit (FIBA)