Men’s Basketball Powerhouse in Rising: Germany Leaves USA and Serbia Behind to Claim Its First-Ever World Title

In the last quarter of the 2023 FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup final in Manila, Philippines, the national team of Serbia staged a remarkable comeback, but it ultimately wasn’t enough. Dennis Schröder, the tournament’s brightest player, made a crucial driving layup at the right time to help Germany win its first-ever world title with a victory of 83-77 (23-26, 24-21, 22-10, 14-20) in the decisive game.

Schröder scored 28 points in the title decider on 9 of 17 shooting. Later, the new Toronto Raptors player (LA Lakers last season) was awarded the 2023 FIBA World Cup’s overall MVP. Additionally, he was chosen for the All-Tournament Team.

Game Was Close from Very Beginning

From the very beginning, the game was close. Despite the fact that Nikola Jokić-less Serbia had a five-point lead towards the end of the first quarter (26-21), “Die Mannschaft” was already in the lead by one point in the second (30-29).

However, Serbia didn’t waste any time regaining the lead, and after a three-pointer step-back from Bogdan Bogdanović (42-38), Germany was compelled to call a timeout. Despite the surge of “The Eagles”, this was just the second game in the entire history of the World Cup when both teams were level at halftime (47-47).

After the start of the second quarter showed a 49-49 tie, Germany embarked on a 15-4 run to take a commanding 11-point lead (64-53). They kept up their lead and went into the fourth quarter carrying a 12-point advantage.

Germany Repels Serbia’s 4th-Quarter Comeback

In the fourth quarter, Aleksa Avramović grabbed control of the match just when it appeared like Serbia had lost it all. He made many layups to start, then he earned an offensive foul. He changed his approach, making two three-pointers before putting in all three of his free throws following another drive – all that in the final moments of the game.

The teams were only three points apart (78-75 for Germany) with 1:21 remaining in the game. Marko Gudurić missed an opportunity to equalize the game with a wide-open triple from the corner after Isaac Bonga committed a turnover.

Serbia had another chance with 48 seconds left when Schröder only made one of his free throw attempts. Gudurić missed a layup under a foul, then hit both free throws when behind by four (75-79), and the outcome was practically in the balance.

With 21 seconds left, though, Schröder outpaced Avramović to convert it into a driving layup. Serbia was unable to recover after Gudurić turned the ball over and the tournament’s MVP materialized two free throws that he was given.

Germany Finishes Tournament Undefeated

Throughout the competition, Germany went unbeaten. They overcame teams including Australia, Slovenia, and the USA on their route to the highest step of the podium and their first-ever FIBA World Cup ultimate victory. It was quite a bit of a surprise to see Germany as an underdog on the basketball’s best betting sites for the match against Serbia given their undefeated streak. How much has Germany improved shows the fact that they only placed 18th in the final rankings of the 2019 World Cup.

Franz Wagner contributed 19 points and 7 rebounds in addition to Schröder to the success of Germany. Johannes Voigtmann helped secure a victory with something that could not be seen in the stats. Above all, he held Nikola Milutinov, who had previously been one of the competition’s most imposing big men, to only two points and four rebounds. In terms of scoring, Voigtmann finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Avramović led Serbia in scoring on the other side of the court with 21 points. In addition, Bogdanović had 17 points and five assists.

More about Schröder, who was the nearly-half-an-hour topic of the Germany NT head coach Gordon Herbert in the post-final press conference: He ended up averaging 19.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 17.6 EFF per game during the competition. Against Australia, the point guard recorded his finest performance of the tournament with 30 points (5/10 2PT, 5/9 3PT, 5/5 FT), eight assists, one rebound, and 31 EFF.