Strong second half lifts Germany over Greece
Franz Wagner scored 18 points and Germany overcame a sluggish start to beat Greece 76-63 on Tuesday and advance to the Olympics semifinals for the first time.
Dennis Schroder added 13 points and eight assists for the reigning World Cup champions, who will face the winner of France and Canada on Thursday. Germany’s previous best finish at the Olympics was seventh place in 1992.
Germany is unbeaten at the Paris Games after going 3-0 in the group stage.
Wagner said he and his teammates haven’t had to look too deep for extra motivation during their time in France.
“I think everybody on the team knows that we’ve got a special group, and I want to get the most out of this,” Wagner said. “Obviously, last year was special but we’re trying to continue that and hopefully keep that momentum going forward.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 22 points for Greece , which was denied its first semifinals berth in Antetokounmpo’s first Olympics appearance.
Greece had 15 turnovers, leading to 20 points for Germany.
“There were a lot of details in this [game] they get you punished. They get you beat,” said Greece’s Thomas Walkup, who added 12 points.
Wagner entered the quarterfinals averaging a team-high 22 points per game but struggled to get going.
Greece led by 12 at one point – the first time Germany had trailed by 10 or more points in the tournament. But Germany settled in and used a big third quarter to take a seven-point lead into the fourth. Germany started the final period on a 13-5 run to increase its lead to 72-57 with 1:50 remaining.
Germany coach Gordon Hebert said going to a bigger lineup and switching more on defense was effective after halftime.
Wagner said carrying the same mentality throughout the tournament benefitted Germany after its initial slow start.
“I think it speaks to our maturity,” Wagner said. “We even talked about it at halftime – not everything’s going to go perfect all the time. So you kind of recover from that and adjust and react. I thought we did a good job of responding.” [AP]
