Germany edged Latvia 81-79 to reach the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA World Cup here on Wednesday. Franz Wagner showed…
Germany noses out Latvia to reach FIBA World Cup semis
Germany edged Latvia 81-79 to reach the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA World Cup here on Wednesday.
Franz Wagner showed off his toolkit in the game, scoring 16 points to lead Germany’s boxscore. The 22-year-old guard, who missed Germany’s last four group games due to injury, also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists, reports Xinhua.
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Starting guard Dennis Schroder, who spearheaded Germany to five straight wins in the group stage, missed all of his nine attempts in the first half and finished with nine points.
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Schroder made his first shot with 7:40 left on the clock in the third quarter, and the Toronto Raptors guard soon came back assisting Daniel Theis for an alley-oop. But it was not enough to make a U-turn in Schroder’s game as he only made a dismal four out of 26 attempts.
Arturs Zagars scored a game-high 24 points and had eight assists for Latvia. He pulled off a number of crazy left-handed finishes through drives to make it 81-79 with just over 30 seconds to play.
Davis Bertans went up for the game-winning three-pointer, but it bounced off the rim, went out of bounds as time expired. The 208cm forward had an amazing game, tallying 20 points including six 3-pointers. Many catch-and-shoots behind the arc were designated for Bertans, and the Oklahoma City Thunder forward made quite a few from the NBA range.
Germany will face off against the United States in the semifinals on Friday, while Latvia plays the 5th-8th classification game against Italy on Thursday.
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