As Germany recently defeated Luka Doncic’s Slovenia and claimed the first place in their second-round group, the Europeans have become serious contenders to win the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
However, it doesn’t mean that they haven’t suffered some internal altercations as a team. Guard Dennis Schroder, who has been one of the best players during the tournament, recently had a problem with his coach Gordon Herbert during a timeout.
As the Bavarian squad was beating Slovenia with ease, the new Raptors player hurried back to the bench for a team talk while exchanging a heated discussion with teammate Daniel Theis, another NBA player who played nine matches for the Pacers last season.
‘SIT DOWN!’ 🗣️
🇩🇪 Gordon Herbert & Dennis Schroder got into a heated argument 😡#FIBAWC #WinForAll pic.twitter.com/JhhDAV8qwa
— BasketNews (@BasketNews_com) September 4, 2023
Germany’s head coach was tired of his player’s discussion and took Schroder by the arm and pulled him away from Theis. While at it, the trainer yelled: “Hey, let’s go! F—! Sit down.”
“You’re not gonna touch me like that,” Schroder immediately replied. To what his coach answered, “I know, I’m just telling you to sit down.”
The game ended 100-71 and the Toronto guard scored a team-high 24 points and 10 assists during his 25 minutes on court. Now Germany will face Latvia this Wednesday for the tournament’s quarterfinals.
After the match, Gordon said that the issue “will be handled internally,” while his star player acknowledge that his argument with Theis was out of place.
“I mean, basketball is an emotional sport,” Schroder said. “It’s a game of runs, and you gotta stay cool. Me and Daniel go way back, I have known him since I was 12 or 13. We had those kinds of moments when we were young as well, but it always helped us to elevate our game.
“That’s what happened today. We got into it, and I told him, ‘Listen, that’s what you gotta do, and you can tell me the same thing.’ Of course, he’s going to be pissed a little bit. It will itch a little bit, but he will give his all. I think that’s what happened.”
Herbert is a very experienced coach who was done everything from winning a bronze medal at the 2022 European Championship for his country, as well as been an NBA assistant for the Raptors.
Germany found the way to control rival star Luka Doncic to finally stun Slovenia
Even though Germany had a slow start to the contest, after halftime they were back on top and pushed another run that basically settled the match. By the end of the game, the Bavarians won by a 29-point margin and claimed their group’s first place.
“We had a really tough start,” said Isaac Bonga. “I think at the beginning, we gave a little bit too much respect. We came to ourselves, we fixed the problems, and we went back to our game.”
Check out the highlights from this second-round contest of the FIBA World Cup:
Even though Bonga was able to stop the Mavericks star from dominating the match, Doncic was still able to drop 23 points, win 6 rebounds, and hand out 6 assists.
“We all know how good Luka Doncic is,” the German athlete admitted. “At the end of the day, I take every challenge. In the second half, I took a different approach, I didn’t care who was in front of me. I think as a team, we also did a better job in the second half.”
