WORLD Champions Germany booked a quarterfinals seat in the 2024 Paris Olympics men's basketball tournament after blasting Brazil 86-73 on Tuesday night at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, France.
By beating Brazil, they also gave France a ride to the quarters after the hosts outlasted Japan in an overtime thriller in the other pairing of Group B.
Germany and France have similar 2-0 records, making them the top two teams of the group while Brazil joined Japan in the bottom with 0-2 slates entering the final game day.
The two bottom teams will still have a chance to make it to the next round if either of them makes one of the two slots given to the best third placer of the three groups.
Defense was the name of the game for the World Champs in the second half as after giving up 30 points in the second quarter, they limited the South Americans to just 33 in the final 20 minutes to break the game wide open for good.
FIBA World Cup MVP Dennis Schroder led the way for the Germans with 20 points, six assists and four steals while Franz Wagner backed him up with 17 markers, four steals and three assists.
Isaac Bonga added 15 while Andreas Obst finished with 14 for Germany.
Brazil, the Riga Olympic Qualifying Tournament winners, relied on Yago Santos' 18 points and eight assists to stay afloat, but just couldn't get the job done in the second half.
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