The most valuable player Dennis Schroder carried Germany with a game-high 28 points.
MANILA: Germany won their first-ever Fiba Basketball World Cup title by beating undermanned Serbia 83-77 in a slugfest of the two European powerhouses on Sunday in Manila.
“This is an unbelievable group… coach did a great job bringing us together,” Schroder told a press conference. “Our defence and how we play as a basketball team is just special.” The two teams were tied at 47 by halftime but Germany built up a 12-point lead late in the third quarter and never looked back.
Earlier, Canada bagged their first World Cup podium finish at the expense of short-handed US 127-118 in overtime in a riveting, record-setting bronze-medal game. Team USA’s NBA players Paolo Banchero, Jaren Jackson Jr, and Brandon Ingram were sidelined due to illness. The team’s leading scorer, Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, recorded 24 points, five rebounds and three assists.