A successful debut for Henrik Rödl: The German basketball players started successfully into the World Cup qualification under the new national coach, even without numerous top performers. Despite some difficulties, the national team won against Georgia 79:70 (40:41) in Chemnitz.
The first hurdle on the way to the 2019 World Championship in China was successfully cleared.
The best thrower among the hosts was captain Robin Benzing with 25 points. As early as Monday (20.20 hrs in the LIVETICKER) the selection of the German Basketball Federation (DBB) in Schwechat continues against hosts Austria, Serbia is the third opponent in the preliminary round. Three teams make it to the second group stage after a return match.
Rödl (48), who had inherited US American Chris Fleming after the successful European Championship with his loss in Istanbul’s quarter-finals, could only count on six European Championship drivers. The German NBA pros were just as unavailable as the players from the EuroLeague clubs, which are in clinch with the world association FIBA and did not interrupt their competition for the newly introduced country game windows.
At its premiere at the Chemnitz Exhibition Centre, Rödl, until summer assistant coach for the national team, initially sent only experienced players to the field. Beside Benzing (28) Bastian Doreth (28), Karsten Tadda (29), Danilo Barthel (26) and Maik Zirbes (27) were in the starting line-up. At the reunion with the Georgians, against whom a victory had been won in the European Championship preliminary round (67:57), too many mistakes crept in after a good start (9:2), with the first deficit (13:14) Rödl took a time-out.
Since the new national coach was short of five EuroLeague players, including supporters such as Johannes Voigtmann (Vitoria/Spain) and Maodo Lo (Bamberg), some new players were given their chance. Dominic Lockhart (Göttingen), Andreas Obst (Erfurt) and Joshiko Saibou (Berlin) made their debut in the A-Team. As was to be expected, however, the transformed team had its problems.
Rödl acted calmly in front of the bank and repeatedly gave his protégés specific instructions. The long-time international saw many avoidable mistakes, and the defence could not get a grip on the naturalized American Michael Dixon.
It was mainly thanks to Benzing that the game remained open. The veteran took over in his 128. He was responsible for the international game and hit the Georgians, who also lacked some top players, with a high percentage. The German team was concentrated in the final quarter and broke away, but two minutes before the end, Benzing made everything clear with a threesome to the 77:64.
No new players will be added to the team before the Austrian match, which makes no sense from a sporting point of view,”DBB President Ingo Weiss told the SID,” We are now playing with this very good team.
The results of the preliminary round are extremely important, they are taken away. In the main round, the DBB team in a group of six must become at least third in order to get a tick for the World Cup. The German team did not participate in the final round 2014.