GERMANY and its NBA duo of Dennis Schroder and Franz Wagner completed their rise to the top of the basketball world by winning the FIBA World Cup 2023 — unbeaten in eight games.

Toronto Raptors guard Dennis Schroder finished with 28 points, while Orlando Magic mainstay Franz Wagner added 19 points as the world No. 11 Germany bested perennial contender Serbia, 83-77 in their highly-emotional championship game in front of 12,022 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

It was Germany’s first-ever World Cup — and they ran away with the most coveted basketball trophy without losing a single game in Okinawa, Japan where they first played and in Manila where they finished it all.

“It’s an unbelievable group. It’s unbelievable going 8-0,” said Schroder, who also earned the TISSOT Most Valuable Player award while also leading the Mythical Team.

“In Germany, people are starting to recognize what we’re doing for our country. We want our respect as well,” added Schroder, who led the team with an average of 19.1 points and and 6.1 assists per game.

“It’s a little bit of a surreal moment. It’s like I told the players. It’s a tremendous group of players, but we were a team first. Guys cared about each other and they challenged each other,”said Germany coach Gordie Herbert, who took the job in 2021.

Germany, whose previous best finish in the World Cup was pocketing the bronze in 2002 edition in Indianapolis, swept all its eight matches –five in Okinawa and three in Manila.

The Germans defeated Japan, 81-63, Australia, 85-82, and Finland, 101-75, in the first round, and Georgia, 100-73, and Slovenia, 100-71, in the second round, all in Okinawa.

In Manila, they defeated Latvia, 81-79, in the quarterfinals, United States, 113-111, in the semis, and then, Serbia.

Germany’s supporting cast did its part.

Johannes Voigtmann, the 6-11 veteran, added 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds; Moritz Wagner contributed eight points and four rebounds; and Andreas Obst and Isaac Bonga had seven points apiece.

Aleksa Avramovic finished with 21 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic added 17 points,five assists and three rebounds for Serbia, which lost in the final for the second time in the last three editions.

“We made great success. Our heads are up. We know that we made our country happy and put a smile on them,” said Avramovic.

“This is already past, and our next goal is to go the Olympic Games and make better success than this.Germany, they have been playing amazing.”

The Serbians also finished second in Spain in 2014, losing only to the United States, and fifth in China in 2019.

Joining Schroder in the Mythical First Team are Bogdanovic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of third placer Canada, Anthony Edwards of fourth placer United States and fan favorite Luka Doncic of Slovenia.

The Germany-Serbia gold medal game surely lived up to all the hype.

The high-scoring first half ended in a tie at 47-all after 20 minutes, keeping the fans to their feet a few hours after the equally-entertaining battle for the bronze medal between Canada and the United States.

But a decisive 22-10 blast in the third quarter powered by Schroder, Wagner and Voightman enabled Germany to take control at 69-57 going into the fourth quarter.

Serbia, however, refused to quit.

Avramovic fueled a 7-2 run to trim the deficit to 64-71 with 7:22 left and then hit a corner three-pointer to cut it even further, 69-73.

Serbia came to within 77-79 after two free throws by Marko Guduric with 39.5 seconds, but Schroder drove past two defenders for a layup that put the lead back to four 81-79.

Schroder’s two free throws with 12 seconds remaining finalized the score.

The scores:

Germany (83) – Schroder 28, F. Wagner 19, Voigtmann 12, M. Wagner 8, Obst 7, Bonga 7, Theis 2, Thiemann 0, Lo 0
Serbia (77) – Avramovic 21, Bogdanovic 17, Petrusev 10, N. Jovic 9, Marinkovic 9, Guduris 4, S. Jovic 3, Milutinov 2, Davidovac 2, Dobric 0
Quarterscores: 23-26, 47-47, 69-57, 83-77.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Robert Andaya