Dennis Schroder has been in plenty of big moments before. He’s played in NBA conference finals games with the Hawks and Lakers. He’s played in the Olympics. He helped lift Germany to the last World Cup title.
With the EuroBasket championship in the balance, Schroder took over and scored the game’s final six points, lifting Germany past Türkiye to the title.
“We never shy away from the big moments. … Everybody is so confident,” Schroder said postgame, via the Associated Press. “Just big-time plays from big-time character people.”
Germany won the most recent World Cup behind the play of Schroder, and they finished fourth in the Paris Olympics. Germany is playing fantastic team basketball right now.
Schroder, who will suit up for Sacramento this season, finished this game with 16 points and 12 assists and was named EuroBasket MVP for his play. What makes Germany so formidable is their depth of talent: Orlando’s Franz Wagner had 18 points with eight rebounds, his teammate Tristan Da Silva added 13, while former NBA player Isaac Bonga led the team with 20 points.
Türkiye was led by the Rockets’ Alperen Sengun, who had 28 points in this game to cap off a breakout tournament. Former NBA players Cedi Osman (23 points) and Shane Larkin (13 points) had big roles for Türkiye as well.
Earlier in the day, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 30 points and pulled down 17 rebounds to spark Greece past Finland in the bronze medal game.
Antetokounmpo, Sengun, Schroder, Wagner and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic were named to the All EuroBasket first team.
