Schroder thanks German teammates for saving ‘worst’ career game, credits no-quit Latvia

MANILA, Philippines – Dennis Schroder is not one to mince words on any basketball stage, whether it be the NBA or FIBA.

Germany’s captain stayed the same on Wednesday, September 6, after his team barely got by giant-killer Latvia, 81-79, to move on to the 2023 FIBA World Cup knockout semifinal against top contender USA.

Asked to comment on his 9-point effort on a horrendous 4-of-26 shooting clip, Schroder quickly said, “That’s probably the worst game I ever played in my career. But I mean, we’re still in the semifinals.”

Schroder was right to cut straight to the chase. There was just no sweet-talking around his first game on Philippine soil, which started off with a 0-of-12 shooting slump running through the third quarter before even getting on the scoreboard.

When Germany survived at the final buzzer after Latvia’s Davis Bertans missed a potential game-winning three, Schroder limped to the finish line with a 4-of-26 clip, including 0-of-8 from three, 4 fouls, 4 turnovers, and a game-worst plus-minus of -20.

Thankfully for the new Toronto Raptors guard, Germany’s star brother duo of Franz and Moritz Wagner – both playing for the Orlando Magic – took up the scoring cudgels with 16 and 13 points, respectively.

“Shoutout to all these guys in the locker room who helped me win this game,” Schroder continued. “That’s the reason why we’re all together and we’re a special team.”

The former Los Angeles Laker also took the time to honor Latvia’s Cinderella run, which included stunning wins over top contenders France and 2019 World Cup champion Spain.

“Big shoutout to them. They played hard, shooting a lot of threes, beating a lot of teams in this tournament,” Schroder said. “Shoutout to them, they’re a really good team.”

Although they lived to fight another day, Schroder and Germany definitely need to return to the drawing board for a better semifinal game plan.

Anything less than perfection against the USA will spell a quick and painful doom, even for the most decorated of basketball programs. – Rappler.com