Does the German basketball show go on?

The group stage at the Basketball World Cup 2023 is over. Now it’s time to get down to business. The field of title contenders has been reduced from 32 teams to 16. Half of them will make it to the quarterfinals via the intermediate round. The DBB giants have excellent chances to reach the World Cup playoffs for the first time in 17 years. In our Germany vs. Georgia tip, it becomes clear that the jump can already succeed on Friday.

In this Group K, which continues to be played at the Okinawa Arena in Japan, Germany and Slovenia are on top with 3-0 wins each. Australia and Georgia follow with 2-1 victories and can also still have hopes. If Germany wins against Georgia and Slovenia wins against Australia on Friday, the quarter-finalists will have been decided early.

However, Gordon Herbert’s team will not be looking at the competition, especially as the German selection has to take to the floor earlier. A win against the Georgians is all that matters

The Germans have to look to just stick with themselves and play through the game like they did in the preliminary round against Japan, Australia and Finland. We are relatively sure that in the duel between Germany and Georgia you can only be right with a prediction on a victory of the DBB selection. Tendentially, you probably have to see which handicap might fit best.

Germany – statistics & current form

Even before the first World Cup match, it was clear that the German team is one of the secret favorites at this World Cup in the Far East. The bronze medal at the home European Championships last year gave Gordon Herbert’s team another real boost. The team has an incredible spirit and no matter what the further course of this tournament should be, the German basketball players are really fun to watch.

Strength from the bench

The respect has to be earned, though, and that’s exactly what Germany is ready to do at Okinawa Arena. The cohesion is evident in the games by the fact that the DBB giants have an incredible bench. Actually, all three group games were won by the second line. Whether that was Moritz Wagner against Japan, Maodo Lo against Australia, or Andreas Obst and Johannes Thiemann against Finland.

Two clear wins and a narrow victory against co-favorite Australia are an impressive haul from perhaps the strongest group in the preliminary round. Germany has won nine of the last eleven games. With these performances, it must be said in all clarity, both a medal and direct qualification for the Olympic Games next year in Paris are possible. However, ten European teams are still in the race and only the two best will get the direct ticket to the Olympics. On Friday, however, they can eliminate another opponent in this respect, the Georgians.

There is no guesswork about the performance level of the German selection. This is only the case with Franz Wagner. Perhaps a deployment on Friday is still too early, although it must be said that the small forward may be brought more against Slovenia. On Friday, even without a possible Wagner deployment in the duel Germany against Georgia, we look only at the odds for a handicap victory of the German team.

Predicted lineup of Germany:
Bonga, Lo, Giffey, Voigtmann, F. Wagner, Theis, M. Wagner, Schröder, Hollatz, Thiemann, Obst, Krämer – Coach: Herbert

Georgia – statistics & current form

Georgia can definitely be described as an up-and-coming sports nation. The progress in many sports, for example, in soccer, water polo or even basketball is confusing. Now, the leap to the top of the world will probably not succeed anywhere, but the potential to annoy even much stronger rated teams, the team of the Greek coach Ilias Zouros certainly has.

Main round in first World Cup participation

However, the Georgians were also fortunate to have been drawn into a grateful group in the preliminary round. Venezuela and Cape Verde are two teams that you have to beat as an ambitious European team at a World Cup. That’s how it turned out and with 2-1 wins, after the clear defeat against the Slovenians, the Georgians are now in the main round, and that as a newcomer on this very big basketball stage.

The last matches show that they don’t show any weakness against teams at eye level or below and win their games. Against Australia, Lithuania or Latvia in the preparation, or even against Slovenia at the World Cup, it became clear that highly rated teams over four quarters are then probably a number too big and therefore we hold back with a forecast on a close match between Germany and Georgia.

If we look at the statistics at this World Cup, the German team will have to keep three Georgians in check. Sandro Mamukelashvili and Tornike Shengelia are the best scorers for the Eurasians. In addition, there is their big man Goga Bitadze, who works extremely well under the basket and can be found in the top ten of these World Cup statistics with an average of over ten rebounds.

Predicted lineup of Georgia:
Andronikashvili, Mamukelashvili, Yintcharadze, Lirklikadze, Tsintsadze, Shermadini, Sanadze, Turdziladze, Berishvili, Shengelia, McFadden, Bitadze – Coach: Zouros

Germany – Georgia Direct comparison / H2H balance

The national teams from Germany and Georgia have not met very often. In total, there are just five duels on the books. All of these matches went to the German team. The first encounter took place in 2005 at a friendly tournament in Braunschweig. The first competitive match came in 2017 at the European Championship in Israel, when the German team prevailed by ten points in the preliminary round.

The last two encounters resulted from the qualification for the 2019 World Cup in China. In Chemnitz, Germany won the home match with nine points and also in the return match in Tbilisi it was enough to win with a difference of ten points. The German selection has not celebrated any higher victories against the Georgians to date. Maybe that’s why it will be closer than expected on Friday?

Germany – Georgia tip

For the Georgians the entry into the main round is already a very big success, because after all they play for the first time at a World Cup. More should not be possible, because they would need wins against Germany and Australia and that would probably be a bit too much. Therefore, the Georgians will have to enjoy the last two World Cup games and take the experience with them.

Germany, on the other hand, still has a lot of plans. The main round should not be the end of the line. With a win on Friday, Gordon Herbert’s team would take a very big step towards the quarterfinals.

The German team was extremely accurate against the Finns, scoring over 100 points. We think it is conceivable that the DBB giants will score in this range again on Friday. That’s why we think more than 165.5 points are definitely possible. Combined, we then decided to play the betting odds on a German win and a total of more than 165.5 points between Germany and Georgia in the end.