Germany survive Bogdanovic madness, eliminate Croatia in Semi-Finals

SPLIT (Croatia) - Bojan Bogdanovic played one of his best games in a Croatian jersey, but not even his 38 points could save the day. Germany won 86:76, they will face Brazil in the Final on Sunday.

Croatia owned an eight point lead early in the fourth quarter, but Germany decided to go with their small ball unit and increased the defensive intensity to the maximum, forcing two shot clock violations and two turnovers by Croatia in the closing minutes.

On the other end of the floor, Maodo Lo and Joshiko Saibou provided the scoring lift to send Germany to the Final. Brazil await on the other side of the draw.

Turning point: Bojan Bogdanovic had 30 point through the first three quarters, but that's all what Croatia had as their offensive plan. German depth helped, and since trailing 71-63 early in Q4, they were slowly but surely gaining up on Croatia. Maodo Lo's driving game torched Croatia, his assist to Niels Giffey made it a one possession game, and then Lo and Saibou found a way how to get to the line and get Germany in front.

Croatia could not buy a bucket in the last three minutes, and the air was gone out of the building, which saw Hajduk Split fans creating a stadium-like atmosphere for 40 minutes. In the end, they were forced to give hand to Germany, but had a standing ovation for Bogdanovic and company, as well.

TCL Player of the game: Maodo Lo had 29 points on 8-of-19 shooting, with 8 assists also to his name. The award could've easily gone to Bojan Bogdanovic, 38 points in a losing effort for the Croatian superstar.

Stats don't lie: Croatia's interior defense was non existent, allowing Germany to shoot 18-of-29 from the two-point range, with the big men rotation of Johannes Voigtmann, Danilo Barthel, Johannes Theimann and Moritz Wagner dominating against Croatia's smaller lineup without a classic power forward.

Bottom line: Brazil against Germany, that's what it all comes down to in Split. Croatia were hoping to get another chance against Aco Petrovic and his squad, but they weren't playing on a high level since day one in Split. Germany are getting better and better, and the experience of winning three close games may help in the Final.

They said:

FIBA