- Basketball Gala in the Witch's Cauldron: Germany Group 1
The German basketball team secured the group victory with a spectacular performance against Olympic hosts France, further emphasizing their gold medal ambitions. The World Cup winners won the eagerly anticipated duel with the French in the cauldron of Lille 85:71 (48:27), finishing the preliminary round undefeated.
In front of 27,000 spectators in the sold-out Stade Pierre-Mauroy, the two NBA professionals Franz Wagner and Dennis Schröder each scored 26 points, being the standout players in the team of national coach Gordon Herbert. Especially defensively, Germany - apart from a brief phase in the final quarter - put on an outstanding performance and held the selection around prodigy Victor Wembanyama to just 27 points in the first half.
The draw for the quarter-finals will take place on Saturday evening, 45 minutes after the last preliminary round game between Serbia and South Sudan (21:00 CET). The qualified teams will be divided into four pots. Possible German opponents are currently Greece with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Serbia with Nikola Jokic, or South Sudan. Top favorite USA will initially be out of Germany's way if the NBA stars win their group as expected on Saturday. A duel between Germany and USA could only take place in the final.
The atmosphere in Lille was incredible. When swimming star Leon Marchand won his next gold medal in Paris, 200 kilometers away, ten minutes before the game, the audience went wild for the first time. An hour before the match, the fans in front of the converted football arena had already sung the Marseillaise.
"These are the duels we play basketball for," Schröder said before the game. "27,000 people are against you. There's nothing better than playing against the favorite in their hall," the point guard said. "This will be a mega-experience. There will be a lot of fire in it," center Daniel Theis predicted.
Dennis Schröder and Franz Wagner dominated
And the German team was really up for this experience, showing their best performance so far in the tournament. The World Cup winners were fueled by a part of the women's team, which had already qualified for the quarter-finals, from the start. Especially Schröder and Franz Wagner were really eager for the duel with the hosts.
The two NBA professionals scored the first 18 points of the German team together. Only at the 19:16, Isaac Bonga, another German player, scored from the free-throw line. After the first quarter, Germany had built a small lead (24:18), also because Wembanyama was not yet a decisive factor for the French and remained scoreless in the first ten minutes.
Basketball players live in the Olympic Village
In the second period, Germany really turned it up and led the French for phases. The atmosphere in the arena became noticeably quieter, at half-time the selection of the German Basketball Federation was leading by an incredible 21 points (48:27).
The short discussions about whether the basketball players are allowed to live in the Olympic Village in Paris seemed to have rather fueled Schröder and Co. rather than disturbed them. The question had already been clarified well before the game: The basketball players are allowed to live in the athletes' village.
Against France, Schröder and Co. were never really in danger even after the break, although the hosts managed to reduce the deficit again. The German team is now traveling to the French capital with a lot of self-confidence.
The Gala performance by Germany against France in the cauldron of Lille was capped off by a thrilling 85-71 victory, securing their place in the quarter-finals. In the lead-up to this spectacle, Dennis Schröder and Franz Wagner dominated the game, setting the tone for Germany's best performance in the tournament so far.
