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Johannes Voigtmann comes up big as Germany wins World Cup

Johannes Voigtmann comes up big as Germany wins World Cup

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10 September 20233 Mins read

Johannes Voigtmann comes up big as Germany wins World Cup

Germany is the FIBA Basketball World Cup champion for the first time and it did so with a team made mostly of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague stars! Team Germany outlasted Serbia 83-77 in the championship game in Manilla. No fewer than seven EuroLeaguers highlighted the German roster and several of them made major contributions to the winning effort.

Chief among them was big man Johannes Voigtmann of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan, who posted 12 points on near-perfect shooting and led his team with 8 rebounds, 3 assists and a performance index rating of 22. The German lineups that played the best were with EuroLeague stars too as Isaac Bonga produced a game-high +/- of 9 and his FC Bayern Munich teammate Andreas Obst and Voigtmann each had 8.

Dennis Schroder named tournament MVP after scoring 28 points, including a game-clinching layup to make it 81-77 with 21.4 seconds remaining. Franz Wagner added 19 points for the winners. Bonga, who made major contributions on the defensive end, and Obst scored 7 points apiece.

After a thrilling first half that featured 15 lead changes ended with the teams knotted at 47-47, Germany outclassed Serbia 22-10 in the third quarter. Serbia rallied in the fourth and came within 79-77 on free throws by Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul's Marko Guduric with 39.5 seconds remaining. However Schroder answered on the next possession and Germany was able to celebrate.

The other EuroLeague players who are now world champions with Germany are Niels Giffey from Bayern, Justus Hollatz from Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Maodo Lo from Milan and Johannes Thiemann from ALBA Berlin.

Avramovic was brilliant in defeat

Aleksa Avramovic of Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade was brilliant in defeat for Serbia. He sparked the fourth-quarter comeback by scoring 16 of his 21 points in the final 10 minutes. In addition to his excellent scoring, Avramovic played intense defense and was a constant pain in Germany's side.

Former EuroLeague champs Bogdan Bogdanovic and Filip Petrusev added 17 and 10 points, respectively. Vanja Marinkovic of Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz got off to a strong start with 9 first-quarter points, but did not score again.

The other EuroLeague players to take home silver medals from the tournament are Dejan Davidovac from Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, Ognjen Dobric from Virtus Segafredo Bologna, Guduric from Fenerbahce and Nikola Milutinov from Olympiacos Piraeus. Dobric started the game, but was fouled and helped to the locker room with an ankle injury after just 2 minutes and 20 seconds of playing time. He did not return.

Earlier Sunday, Canada captured the bronze medal with a 188-127 overtime victory over the United States of America. Dillon Brooks erupted for 39 points and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 points and 12 assists for the winners. Anthony Edwards led the Americans with 24 points.