Dirk Nowitzki went into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and now his homeland stands atop the men’s international basketball world.
Dennis Schroder scored 28 points, Franz Wagner added 19 and Germany capped off an unbeaten run through the World Cup by holding off Serbia 83-77 in the final on Sunday night.
It was Germany’s first World Cup title; before now, its top showing in the event was a bronze at Indianapolis in 2002.
Germany went 8-0 in the tournament, becoming the fifth consecutive champion to go unbeaten.
But Serbia went on a surprise run, fueled by inspiration the team took from the loss of reserve forward Borisa Simanic.
Persons:
Dirk Nowitzki, Dennis Schroder, Franz Wagner, Aleksa Avramovic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nikola Jokic, Marko Guduric, Schroder, Nowitzki, —, Naismith
Organizations:
Basketball Hall of Fame, Serbia, Indianapolis, U.S, NBA, Denver Nuggets, South, Serbia couldn’t, Paris, ___ AP NBA, AP
Locations:
MANILA, Philippines, Germany, Serbia, South Sudan