Germany completed a comeback win over Latvia on Wednesday to earn a place in the World Cup semifinals, while Canada defeated Slovenia to claim a spot in the final four as well.
The World Cup semifinal games, which will take place on Friday, are as follows:
- U.S. vs. Germany
- Canada vs. Serbia
Although Team USA will enter the semifinal as a heavy favorite, Germany is the only undefeated team left in the tournament, having come out victorious in all six of their games so far.
The Germans, who got Magic forward Franz Wagner back on Tuesday following an ankle injury, recovered from an early deficit and overcame an off day from guard Dennis Schröder, who made just four of his 26 shot attempts from the floor. The rest of the team shot 54.5% (24-of-44), with Wagner contributing a team-high 16 points to overcome Davis Bertans (20 points) and the Latvians by a score of 81-79.
The Canadians, meanwhile, pulled away from Luka Doncic and the Slovenians in a strong third quarter and won 100-89, earning their first-ever berth in a World Cup semifinal.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31 points on 8-of-12 shooting) and RJ Barrett (24 points on 9-of-22 shooting) scored more than half of Canada’s points, while Dillon Brooks (14 points on 5-of-7 shooting) chipped in and played tough defense on Doncic, who scored 26 points on 8-of-20 shooting. Both Doncic and Brooks were ejected during a chippy fourth quarter.
While Latvia and Slovenia will join Lithuania and Italy in the classification games to determine the fifth-through-eight seeds, Germany and Serbia have assured themselves of spots in the 2024 Olympics by finishing as the top two European teams in the World Cup, regardless of the semifinal outcomes.
The eight teams that have qualified for the Paris Olympics so far are the United States, Canada, Germany, Serbia, France, Japan and South Sudan. The remaining four spots will be claimed next summer in a series of qualifying tournaments.
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