Germany teach Slovenia a hard lesson at FIBA Basketball World Cup

Germany beat Slovenia 100-71 in the FIBA Basketball World Cup Round of 16 game at Okinawa Arena in Okinawa, Japan, on Sunday.

Since both teams have already advanced to the quarterfinals regardless of the result of this game, neither side stepped on the court with serious defensive intensity. One of the consequences of doing so was letting Luka Doncic heat up quickly. He scored 14 points in the first quarter alone, placing Slovenia on a 14-point lead (25-11) over Germany.

Germany altered their defense quickly in the second period but they didn’t apply the conventional move of double-teaming Doncic. Instead, they had Moritz Wagner guard him in a more physical way. Though Wagner didn’t make any non-basketball move, he managed to enrage Doncic. When Doncic acted rashly, he couldn’t make the most reasonable call, which then hurt Slovenia’s offense.

While they were working on Doncic’s mindset, Germany continued to play solid offensive tactics that began with Dennis Schroder’s sharp penetrations that led to his own finishing, finding teammates outside for open 3-pointers, or easy buckets for big men next to the hoop.

The situation reversed immediately in the second quarter as Germany replied with a 27-9 run. They kept the opponents from getting any points for as long as four minutes. When the two teams entered the locker room for the halftime break, Germany already led 38-34.

Germany’s momentum towards victory grew even more unstoppable in the second half as the whole team stayed hot from downtown. They built their biggest lead of 19 points in this period.

When Doncic and his teammates finally cleared their heads, the game was only steps from becoming a foregone conclusion. In order to stop their opponents from continuing to expand their lead, Slovenia applied zone defense from the middle of the third quarter, which caught Germany by surprise for a while. Slovenia exploited their scoring drought to cut their deficit by several points, but the gap was still too big to wipe, not to mention that Germany beat the zone defense with multiple 3-pointers made in a row in the fourth quarter.

Slovenia had been one of the best offensive teams in the World Cup thanks to the excellent performance of Doncic, until Sunday night. As a player, Doncic has nearly no defects in his skills, but he loses a great part of his “Luka Magic” when he is distracted by the defender’s physical contact and referee calls that he doesn’t like.

Slovenia shot poorly with 7-for-32 from deep in Sunday’s game, much worse than they did in the previous competitions. Though the zone defense they applied in the second half didn’t overcome the deficit, the team shouldn’t forget its effect when their offense fails to work again in the future.

Other games on Sunday:

Australia 100-84 Georgia

Italy 73-57 Puerto Rico

Greece 69-73 Montenegro

Brazil 84-104 Latvia

Dominican Republic 79-112 Serbia

USA 104-110 Lithuania

Spain 85-88 Canada