Germany to host Canada, China and New Zealand in Basketball Supercup

HAMBURG (Germany) - The national teams of Canada, China, New Zealand and Germany will set the city of Hamburg alight when they play in the 34th Basketball SuperCup August 12-13.

Just two weeks before the start of the FIBA Basketball World Cup in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, the four qualified countries will do some fine-tuning.

Canada, expected to have NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in their star-studded team, will square off against New Zealand in one SuperCup Semi-Final with a Dennis Schroder- and Franz Wagner-led Germany taking on China in the other game.

Gilgeous-Alexander averaged more than 26 points in his three appearances for Canada in the Americas Qualifiers

The winners will meet in the Final the next day, when a Third-Place Game is also to be held.

"We're in the second year of a three-year cycle and the Supercup is a very good test on the way to the FIBA ​​World Cup," said Germany coach Gordie Herbert.

"Canada with Nick Nurse, one of the best head coaches in the NBA, is a very talented team with some very good NBA players like Jamal Murray or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, also very good players who are under contract in Europe. Canada has the most NBA players after the USA and is one of the contenders for a World Cup medal for me.

"New Zealand is one of the dark horses in world basketball. New Zealand is often forgotten when listing the best teams, but they play very good basketball there. China is coached by my good friend Sasa Djordjevic, one of the best European players of all time. In total, we have three high-class guest teams with very different basketball styles at the Supercup. That should be very interesting and I'm really looking forward to that."

Germany's Wagner took on Slovenia's Luka Doncic and other greats at EuroBasket 2022 

Germany are on a roll, winning the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Split to reach the Tokyo Games and last year, they came in third at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 in Berlin.

China and Germany have had some memorial showdowns over the years, including the epic meeting at the 2008 Olympics when Yao Ming scored 25 points to lead the hosts to a 59-55 win over Germany, who got 24 points from Dirk Nowitzki.

Six years before that, Nowitzki's 30 points and eight rebounds propelled Germany past China in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup in Indianapolis. Nowitzki went on to become MVP of the World Cup after leading Germany to a spot on the podium.

Canada and New Zealand won their most recent showdown at the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Manila, 78-72.

At the 2010 World Cup in Turkey, the Tall Blacks won their Group Phase encounter, 71-61. Current New Zealand coach and FIBA Hall of Famer, Pero Cameron, played in that game, in his third and final World Cup. 

FIBA