Preview: Germany and Finland will decide first place in Group J
MUNICH (Germany) - All three spots for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 from Group J of the European Qualifiers have been handed out. The main question is if Germany or Finland will take first place.
MUNICH (Germany) - All three spots for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 from Group J of the European Qualifiers have been handed out. The main question remaining for the final window is if Germany or Finland will take first place.
Germany and Finland are even at 8-2 in the group but Germany hold the advantage of finishing atop the group after grabbing a 94-80 victory over the Finns in the November 2022 window.
Group J
12/18 games played
All First Round results carry over to Second Round
| GAMES | GAME POINTS | POINTS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | P | W | L | % | For | Agt | +/- | FA | AA | |
| 1 | Germany(*) | 10 | 8 | 2 | 80.0 | 800 | 707 | 93 | 80 | 70.7 | 18 |
| 2 | Finland(*) | 10 | 8 | 2 | 80.0 | 800 | 752 | 48 | 80 | 75.2 | 18 |
| 3 | Slovenia(*) | 10 | 7 | 3 | 70.0 | 837 | 792 | 45 | 83.7 | 79.2 | 17 |
| 4 | Sweden | 10 | 5 | 5 | 50.0 | 782 | 794 | -12 | 78.2 | 79.4 | 15 |
| 5 | Israel | 10 | 3 | 7 | 30.0 | 762 | 772 | -10 | 76.2 | 77.2 | 13 |
| 6 | Estonia | 10 | 2 | 8 | 20.0 | 719 | 828 | -109 | 71.9 | 82.8 | 12 |
Friday February 24, 2023
Israel v Finland - 13:30 CET - Tel Aviv, Israel
Estonia v Slovenia - 16:00 CET - Tallinn, Estonia
Germany v Sweden - 19:30 CET - Frankfurt, Germany
Israel and Estonia fans will be excited to bid their national teams farewell for now as both countries are out of the running for the World Cup. Germany and Finland will be looking to go into their final game on a high note.
Monday February 27, 2023
Finland v Germany - 17:30 CET - Espoo, Finland
Slovenia v Israel - 18:00 CET - Koper, Slovenia
Sweden v Estonia - 19:05 CET - Malmo, Sweden
The main storyline for February 27 is the Finland v Germany game in Espoo. Both teams have already locked up spots in the World Cup so they both have players with lesser experience who will also be motivated to show they can shine in an important game.
Players of note
Urban Klavzar, David Kramer, Henri Kantonen
Spots on Slovenia's team at the World Cup as a guard will be very hard to come by. Urban Klavzar made a step at the club level leaving Real Madrid for Basketball Champions League side UCAM Manresa, and he had a strong debut with the Slovenia national team with a combined 19 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 43 mintues in the November 2022 window.
David Kramer probably has a better chance of making the final World Cup roster for Germany than Klavzar does with Slovenia, but Kramer will certainly be hungry to continue showing German head coach Gordie Herbert that he made a mistake by not bringing him to FIBA EuroBasket 2022. Kramer is averaging 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists but he poured in a combined 40 points with 5 three-pointers to go with 3 rebounds and 4 assists in the November 2022 window.
Henri Kantonen has played at least 15 minutes in the last three European Qualifiers - between which he played at the FIBA EuroBasket 2022. The 25-year-old guard also helped Finnish club Karhu Basket reach the Quarter-Finals of the FIBA Europe Cup. This window will be a good chance to show the coaching staff how much they can rely on him.
Here's where Group J teams are ranked in the FIBA World Rankings, as well as in Europe:
| World rank |
Country | Zone rank |
Current points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7. | Slovenia | 4. | 704.3 |
| 11. | Germany | 8. | 640.8 |
| 24. | Finland | 14. | 440.6 |
| 33. | Israel | 19. | 342.4 |
| 44. | Estonia | 22. | 290.1 |
| 50. | Sweden | 27. | 252.4 |
FIBA