Why Australia vs Slovenia is important for German basketball players

No slide rule needed: German basketball team with coach Gordon Herbert (Mi.).
IMAGO/camera4+

Franz Wagner was not particularly interested in higher mathematics at the Basketball World Cup. “We want to win the next game first and then see what happens. There’s no use getting a calculator right now,” said the 22-year-old NBA expert from Okinawa, Japan. The next game against Georgia this Friday (10:30 am) could further improve Germany’s starting position in the fight for tickets to the finals in Manila. However, a decision cannot be made until the match between Slovenia and Australia (2:10 pm) takes place soon.

Germany and Slovenia won the quarter-finals

“It’s really a very attractive dynamic. As outsiders, you want to control as much as possible. For us, it means focusing all our energy on the game,” Moritz Wagner said of the constellations. And they really aren’t that easy. Dennis Schröder and co predict that if Germany beat Georgia, the Slovenians will win. As it stands, Germany and Slovenia will advance to the quarter-finals with four wins each and only take first place in a head-to-head fight.

Australian success is complex

However, if Australia wins, there is a risk of complex three-way comparisons in which individual points may matter. Sunday (1:10 p.m.) is a key match against Germany against Slovenia. “When I think to myself: What if I lose it? There’s a chance I’ll lose it. You focus completely on what’s going on,” said Moritz Wagner. One thing is clear: with two wins over Georgia and Slovenia, Germany will head to Manila as group winners, where a showdown with world champions Spain or co-favorite Canada is possible in the quarterfinals.