Can anybody stop Brazil? ''Our character is our best chance''

SPLIT (Croatia) - Brazil have been the dominant side over the past week on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. They have one more hurdle on their way to Tokyo, facing Germany in the Final between two unbeaten teams.

Coach Aleksandar Petrovic is enjoying the trip back to his homeland, even though he may be surprised that it's not Croatia at the other end of the floor on Sunday. He was saying for the past year and a half that he was going to hide his hands in the first matchup against the hosts, saving a secret or two for the second matchup in a potential Final, but Maodo Lo and the rest of Germany spoiled those plans.

Another missed call for Petrovic, who even jokes about his past mistakes nowadays.

"(At FIBA EuroBasket) 2017, I was saying how I wanted to play against Russia in the Round of 16. And you know the result," Brazil coach said. Back then, Petrovic coached Croatia, got his wish by playing Russia in the Knockout Phase, but then got blown out 101-78 in Istanbul.

"So, now I'm not going to have any preferences about our Final opponent. I don't care about anything, other than my team. We are going to scout Germany for the Final, we watched their game against Croatia carefully."

Brazil have gone from strength to strength in this event, defeating Tunisia by 26, Croatia by 27 and Mexico by 28. A win by 29 in the Final sounds like a logical way to finish the streak.

"No response," Petrovic smiled when told about the +26, +27, +28 line.

The fact that Brazil weren't really tested in this event hides another important piece of the puzzle. Nobody had to play heavy minutes, the team will be completely rested and in perfect physical condition for the crucial 40 minutes of the tournament.

"In this kind of a tournament, it's tough to maintain the same level of playing every minute," Vitor Benite explained how big the contribution is from all the Brazilian players, the big names, the role players and the youngsters.

On the other hand, maybe the fact that Brazil haven't played a close game here yet helps Germany. They have a completely different experience in Split, coach Henrik Rodl's men won three close games, they will probably feel confident if the game stays in single digits heading into the final quarter.

"It's going to be tough. Brazil looks really strong, very consistent," Maodo Lo said after his 29-point, 8-assist exhibit against Croatia in the Semi-Finals.

"We have to keep the same character that we have in the team, no matter what happens stay together, keep on fighting and trust each other. That's our best chance tomorrow, because we had a tough game just now, it's gonna be a quick turnaround, we don't have much time to recover, our character is gonna be our best chance."

Germany have a chance to end a 13-year-long drought, their last trip to the Olympics was back in 2008, when they finished third in a similar tournament in Athens, Greece. Brazil, however, want to spoil the European party. They are the only non-European team to reach the Final across all four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments this summer.

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