By Cesare Milanti/ info@eurohoops.net
Riga, Latvia – The focus for Germany has switched to a meeting with Slovenia in the Quarterfinals of EuroBasket 2025.
Ahead of the next challenge, Johannes Thiemann pointed to a necessary team effort in containing superstar Luka Doncic in Xiaomi Arena on Wednesday.
“Luka is an amazing player. He’s so talented, so it’s going to be tough against him, but on the other side it’s it’s a team sport. We all have to make a collective group effort to defend them, to lock him down, to get our best defense against Slovenia. Overall, they’re a good team, but I’m confident that we were able to control them to a certain extent,” said the 31-year-old big.
In the Round of 16, Doncic dropped 42 points to lift his country over Italy.
“You can’t stop him, of course, you can only contain,” explained Thiemann, “We all saw what he can do. He’s a great player, but it’s a team sport and we gotta, as I said, we got to do our best effort as a team to contain him a little and win the game.”
The Round of 16 additionally featured Finland knocking out Serbia on Saturday.
“Obviously, it’s a surprise that they won against Serbia, but I also thought it would be a close game because they have a lot of talent. I also thought they had good matchups against Serbia. They played with heart and were aggressive,” said the native of Trier.
The list of eliminated teams included France, falling to Georgia on Sunday.
“I think we’ve been a favorite and we also have the strength, but we don’t look at that stuff like that,” mentioned the experienced forward/center, “We want to play our game.”
His contributions so far in the tournament amount to 6.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game over six appearances between the preliminary round and the Round of 16 win over Portugal.
A new entry to the senior national team, Tristan da Silva is averaging 10.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.0 blocks, 1.0 steals, and 0.5 assists per contest.
“Well, I think we were kind of like a well-oiled machine, but Tristan brings new energy to the team. He brings shooting, a certain type of grit,” described Thiemann, “For sure, it’s not easy for him to have his first summer here, but he’s doing a great job helping the team, providing scoring, defense.”
Photo Credit: FIBA