After the first victory under the new national coach Gordon Herbert, the relief in the camp of the German basketball players was huge.
Even without all the stars from the NBA and the professionals of the Euroleague teams from Bayern Munich and Alba Berlin won the selection of the German Basketball Federation on Sunday in Poland with 72:69 (40:30) and thus entered the qualification for the World Cup Back in 2023.
“I am very proud of my players.
We played together as a real team today, ”said Herbert after his debut success as the German national coach.
After the embarrassing 66:69 against Estonia on Thursday, the pressure on the 62-year-old Canadian and his team was already great.
But the completely new team put together showed a clear increase in performance compared to Thursday and is now back on track.
“Thursday was tough, but we gave a good answer today.
The teamwork was much better, ”said Herbert.
Henrik Rödl's successor now has plenty of time to analyze the first two games under his direction and to sift through players.
Should Corona allow, Herbert also wants to travel to the USA to visit the NBA stars around Dennis Schröder.
But if it continues with two games against the still unbeaten Israel in the World Cup qualification at the end of February 2022, Schröder and Co. will be missing again.
From the current squad, the Hamburg point guard Justus Hollatz and David Krämer from the Basketball Löwen Braunschweig attracted attention.
Krämer was the best thrower with 24 points.
"After the Estonia game, we found ourselves again as a group," said the 24-year-old.
The 2023 World Cup will take place in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.
32 teams qualify for the final round, including twelve from Europe.