MANILA, Philippines — Enjoy your summer in Germany. The induction of Dirk Nowitzki into the Basketball Hall of Fame has catapulted his native country to the top of the men’s international basketball rankings. Germany finished their undefeated World Cup run with an 83-77 victory over Serbia on Sunday night behind tournament MVP Dennis Schroder’s 28 points and Franz Wagner’s 19. Germany had never won the World Cup before, with its previous best finish being bronze in 2002 at Indianapolis. Germany won the World Cup by being undefeated throughout the competition (a perfect 8-0). As they celebrated, Schroder’s teammates drenched him with water and yelled and cheered during his postgame news conference. “They’re an unbelievable bunch,” Schroder gushed. A perfect 8-0 record is unheard of.
After being hired as Germany’s coach in 2021, Gordie Herbert’s first official duty was to make the trip to visit Schroder. The three or four hours they spent together on the first day laid the groundwork for a friendship that has stood the test of time. It’s a bit of a weird experience, Herbert said. What I told the players came true. It’s a fantastic collection of individuals, but we were a unit first and foremost. The males were supportive and competitive with one another.
Serbia (6-2) was led by Aleksa Avramovic’s 21 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic’s 17 in the loss in the championship game. As a result of its finest player, Nikola Jokic of the NBA champion Denver Nuggets, opting to rest for the upcoming season, not much was expected of the team this summer after it was blown out by the U.S. 129-92 in the 2014 gold-medal game. Serbia, however, embarked on an unexpected run, propelled by the team’s reaction to losing backup forward Borisa Simanic. After being fouled late in a first-round victory over South Sudan, he had to have surgery that night to repair internal damage and another operation a few days later to remove one of his kidneys. The medal is for Simanic. However, silver will be awarded because Germany simply proved too resilient. “We achieved remarkable success,” Avramovic proclaimed. Our chins are held high. We’ve moved on from this, and now our focus is on doing even better at the Olympic Games. They’ve been playing fantastically, Germany. We’re proud of the fact that we were able to put a grin on our nation’s face.
After a close first half, Germany broke away with a 22-10 run in the third quarter and never looked back. Serbia never got closer than two points the rest of the way. A pair of free throws from Marko Guduric with 39.5 seconds remaining pulled it within 79-77, but on the subsequent possession, Schroder blew past two defenders for a basket to give Germany a four-point lead again. Even with Nowitzki as its top player, the idea of Germany becoming the best basketball nation in the world seemed ridiculous.
