Giannis Antetokounmpo came out roaring, but Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroder eventually settled in and took over in the second half to send Germany on to the semifinals with a 76-63 win over Greece on Tuesday.
Greece snuck into the knockout stage thanks to a win over Japan in its final group game. Germany, meanwhile, rolled to 3-0 while walloping France and looking the part of gold-medal contenders.
But it was the underdogs who threw the first punch in Paris: Greece short-circuited the beautiful German machine by throwing multiple bodies at Schroder, and Giannis got cooking in transition on the other end, scoring 10 points over the game’s first six minutes as his team jumped out to an 18-6 lead.
Slowly but surely, however, Germany settled in, largely thanks to a game effort from its unheralded second unit. With so much attention on Schroder, head coach Gordon Herbert finally just took the ball out of his hands entirely, with guys like Mo Wagner and Nick Weiler-Babb catching a rhythm on offense and helping Germany climb back into the game. The lead was down to five early in the second quarter, and by the time the half ended, the Germans had knotted things up at 36.
From there, it felt like just a matter of time before the dam broke. Giannis put up a typically Herculean effort, leading all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He got some help from Thomas Walkup and Konstantinos Papanikoloau, who knocked down a combined 4-of-10 from three. In the end, though, Greece simply didn’t have the horses around its MVP: Non-Giannis players shot just 5-of-15 in the second half, as Germany successfully walled off the paint and forced Greece to come up with another answer.
The Germans also finally got their stars cooking on the other end. Schroder and Wagner scored 20 of Germany’s 40 points in the second half, pacing the team to a seven-point lead at the end of three quarters that more or less put the game to bed. Wagner lead Germany with 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting, and while it wasn’t the vintage Schroder we saw in group play — he shot just 5-of-12 for the game, incluidng 2-of-7 in the first half — he did deliver the dagger with a logo 3 late in the fourth.
It wasn’t the same sort of rollicking performance we saw from Germany in group play, but well, we’re not in group play anymore. This is the knockout stage, and everything ratchets up; it was encouraging to watch Germany respond when its plan A wasn’t working, and its two stars stayed cool and delivered when it mattered down the stretch. Now the competition will get even tougher, with a matchup against either France or Canada in the semifinal.
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