German Double-Core Fails to Ignite, Miss Out on Bronze! Schroder’s Mistakes & Lowest Plus-Minus Rating, Little Wagner Struggles

On August 10th, in the men’s basketball bronze medal match at the Paris Olympics, Germany lost to Serbia 83-93, missing out on their first-ever Olympic medal. In this game, the performances of Germany’s dual cores, Schroder and Little Wagner, were both mediocre.

Facing their vanquished opponents from last year’s World Cup final, Germany fell behind right from the start, not putting up much pressure on defense, allowing Serbia to score a high 30 points in the first quarter. Germany was always playing catch-up. In the third quarter, after trailing by 19 points, they once narrowed the gap to just 8 points, but ultimately failed to turn the tide, losing to Serbia by 10 points, thus missing out on their first-ever Olympic medal in team history.

Schroder faced tight defense from Serbia in this game, especially with Avdijaj leading his defense throughout the game. Schroder shot only 4 of 10, scoring just 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists, committing the highest number of turnovers in the game with 6, nearly half of the team’s total (13). Schroder’s plus-minus rating was -17, the lowest in the team, and he was not very active on defense, being used multiple times by the opponents to convert into transition offense.

The other core player, Little Wagner, also performed poorly. Although he scored the highest for the team with 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists, he only hit 5 of 13 shots. If it weren’t for his 8 of 9 free throws, his stats would have looked rather poor. The forward line led by Little Wagner was supposed to have had a certain advantage, but it did not show in this game, leaving the German team to swallow this defeat unwillingly.