Dennis Schroder led Germany to an 84-81 win over France and a spot in the
EuroBasket 2017 quarterfinals. Schroder scored 15 of his 21 points in the second
half as Germany climbed back from a 6-point halftime deficit to take their first
lead in the third quarter before holding on in the game’s final minutes.
Schroder went scoreless for much of the first half, before driving and dishing a
slick assist to Daniel Theis (22 points 7 rebounds) of the Boston Celtics. From
that point, Schroder went on the attack, drawing free throws, driving for
layups, and dropping off passes to open teammates near the rim.
Schroder went 11 for 11 from the free throw line, including four free throws in
the final minute that helped seal the win. He also had two diving steals: one
where crashed to the hardwood to vacuum up a loose ball and another where he
deflected a pass, saved it from going out of bounds and assisted on a towering
Theis dunk.
“When he didn’t make shots early and there were a couple of calls that he could
have gotten that he didn’t get them, I thought he kept his poise and really gave
our guys a belief that we were going to get this done,” German coach Chris
Fleming said in a press conference streamed on the FIBA website.
“He didn’t settle for jump shots and he got to the cup,” Fleming added. “When
(defenders) guys rotated, the dumped the ball off. For me, it was by far his
best game in this tournament and the one where he showed the most maturity as a
leader and as a playmaker.”
Germany advances to play Tuesday against the winner of the Spain/Turkey.
With Schroder watching from the stands of the Sinam Erden Dome in Istanbul,
teammate Marco Belinelli put on an offensive show in Italy’s 70-57 win over
Finland. Belinelli scored 22 points on just 9 field goal attempts, including
making 5 of his 8 threes.
In a three-minute span of the second quarter, Belinelli scored 8 consecutive
points — a feat which he duplicated in the third quarter to push Italy ahead by
a 20-point margin.
Italy also moves into the quarterfinals where they will play the winner of
Serbia/Hungary.
Watch the highlights here:
Player: Marco Belinelli
Player: Dennis Schroder
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