The United States will not bring home a gold medal at this year’s World Cup. And for the second year in a row, the United States might not bring home any medals from the largest tournament in FIBA’s calendar.
Germany, on the other hand, is in a position where they may win the global championship.
Germany beat USA in the World Cup semifinals on Friday night, 113-111. It set a new record for the most points ever scored against a USA Basketball team consisting of NBA players. Andreas Obst and Franz Wagner each scored 24 points, while the squad scored more than any other team ever has against a USA Basketball team.
“This team is very worthy of winning a championship,” remarked Steve Kerr, the head coach of the United States squad. “And we just couldn’t finish it,” the speaker continued.
No, it didn’t do that, and because of that, more concerns will be raised today. USA Basketball has been discussing for years how the consistency of elite foreign teams has bridged what was once a significant gap between the level of play in the United States and the rest of the world in the sport of basketball. The United States of America has won the last four Olympic titles. Still, they have now gone two consecutive World Cups without winning the gold medal, which is unusual for the program with the best record in the world.
The United States guard and captain Jalen Brunson described the situation as “terrible.” “As clear and uncomplicated as possible.”
On Sunday at 8:40 am Eastern Daylight Time, the World Cup championship game will be played between Germany and Serbia. Germany is the only team left in the tournament that has yet to suffer a loss, and Serbia is currently 7-0. After defeating Canada in the first semifinal, Serbia advanced to the title game of the World Cup for the second time in the last three tournaments. In the 2014 championship game, Serbia was defeated by the United States 129-92.
On Sunday at 4:40 am Eastern Daylight Time, Canada and the United States will compete for the bronze medal.
Obst made the shot of the night, a 3-pointer, with 1:15 left on the clock to put Germany up by four and just about end a last-ditch effort by the United States to make a comeback. Germany took the lead for 30 of the game’s 40 minutes, while the United States took the lead for around four and a half minutes, and there was no doubt as to which team was in control of play for the majority of the contest.
“It’s a special group,” Germany’s head coach Gordie Herbert stated after his team qualified for the World Cup final for the first time. “The way we played, the way we played together, how we stuck together when things got tough, and how we had players who made some huge plays.” One more to go before we’re done!”
After falling behind by 10 points in the middle of the fourth quarter, the United States nearly completed a comeback by cutting the deficit to just one point two consecutive times in the game’s final minutes. However, the Americans were never able to take the lead, and the Germans celebrated by jumping and hugging as the clock ran out.
“We knew the task at hand, and that was to go win,” said U.S. guard Austin Reaves. “That was not something that we did,” we responded.
Anthony Edwards led the United States (5-1) in scoring with 23 points, while Reaves, Mikal Bridges, and Brunson each contributed 21 points, and Brunson tallied 15 points. The Americans shot 58% of the targets, but they also allowed Germany to hit 58% of the marks, which proved to be the decisive factor in the battle’s outcome.
“If you give up 113 points in a 40-minute game, you’re not going to win many of those,” Reaves said. “It’s just not going to happen.”
The previous high for points allowed by a United States men’s team in the Olympics or World Cup in the era when NBA players could be employed was 110, and that mark stood from 1992 to the present day. That was earlier in this competition when the United States was defeated by Lithuania, who were also competing. However, the Americans’ chances of winning the gold medal were still being determined by that defeat. This one did it successfully.
“We were never able to make them feel us defensively,” said Kerr. “We were never able to make them feel us.”
Before Friday, Germany’s record against the United States in World Cup or Olympic competition stood at 0-6, with each match typically ending in a rout for the Germans.
Unfortunately, not at this time. The United States of America’s participation in the World Cup was unsuccessful once again, and this time, more was needed for them to bring the only lineup made up entirely of NBA players. The United States of America finished in seventh place at the 2019 World Cup, which was held in China; this finish, whether third or fourth, will theoretically be better, but more than gold would be needed for USA Basketball.
The German team was led in scoring by Daniel Theis, who finished with 21 points. This has had six games in his career in the NBA in which he scored at least 21 points, and he rated Friday’s game as one of the most important of his life.
“This is undeniably a historic victory for Germany,” Franz Wagner remarked after the match. One more step remains before we reach the finish line.”
Germany won the match against the United States of America by a score of 35-24 in the third quarter, which proved to be the decisive factor. Earlier this summer, Germany competed against the United States of America in Abu Dhabi as part of an exhibition. In the second half of that game, Germany held a 16-point lead against the United States of America; however, the United States prevailed by scoring 18 unanswered points down the line to earn the 99-91 victory.
This time around, it required extraordinary efforts of a similar nature. They came quite close to reaching their destination. Nearly being is the operative term here. This time, Germany was the one to bring it to a successful conclusion. And when it was finished, Reaves couldn’t help but observe Schroder, his old teammate with the Los Angeles Lakers, reveling in a monumental moment for German basketball. Reaves had played with Schroder while together with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Reaves remarked that one should “tip their hat to him.” “I am well aware of this occasion’s significance for him.”
