Germany rain 20 threes on Georgia, move closer to Quarter-Finals

OKINAWA (Japan) - A hot-handed Germany moved one win away from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Quarter-Finals after beating Georgia in the Second Round, 100-73. Friday evening at the Okinawa Arena.

 

Maodo Lo led the pack with 18 points, all of which he got from a perfect 6-of-6 clip from deep as Germany nailed a total of 20 3-pointers - the second-most threes made in a World Cup game all-time. This gets them one step closer of booking a trip to Manila for the Final Phase beginning September 5.

Dennis Schroder finished with 16 points and 7 rebounds. Moe Wagner produced 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Andreas Obst had 12 points while Daniel Theis and Johannes Thiemann chimed in 11 apiece as a total of six players scored in double figures in the win.

 

Turning point: Obst and Schroder connected for three straight triples to power a 14-0 run, which turned a narrow lead to a 61-45 advantage with 4:14 left in the third quarter.

TCL Player of the Game: Wagner went 2-3 from deep and shot 57-percent from the floor overall. He also had a steal in a turnover-less outing, netting an 18 EFF rating.

 

Stats don't lie: Germany are just the second team ever to hit at least 20 threes in a World Cup game. That makes them even tougher to beat as they may have just unleashed another weapon that could help them get deeper into the tournament, where they are viewed as one the favorites.

And as if it wasn't impressive enough, the crew shot their treys with a 57-percent accuracy, indeed an improvement for a side that was just shooting 29.5-percent prior to Friday.

Bottomline: The win should serve as a solid warmup against Luka Doncic and Slovenia on Sunday night, which will be a rematch of their EuroBasket encounter last year.

However, questions surround Germany's health heading into the anticipated clash, with Schroder suffering an apparent upper body injury during the third quarter. The team is already missing the services of Franz Wagner after hurting his ankle in their first game versus Japan.

They said: "He's [Doncic] just an unbelievable basketball player who has tremendous passion for the game. I like watching him play. How are we gonna guard him? I thought we had a pretty good gameplan last year in the EuroBasket and he had [36] on us. At this time, I really don't know. Our focus was one hundred percent on this game." - Gordie Herbert, Head Coach, Germany

"They played much better in the second half, as everybody saw. Second half I don't know what happened. We started with low intensity, we gave very easy shots, some three-point shots that gave them confidence. We didn't function well in the second half." - Ilias Zouros, Head Coach, Georgia

Press conference:

 

FIBA