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20 November, 2017
26 February, 2019
22/02/2018
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Fasten your seatbelts: Best three-point shooters meet top ranked offense in Germany v Serbia


FRANKFURT (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - With Germany and Serbia having both won their pair of games in November, one may think they could relax a bit in February. And that would be completely wrong.

There are two sides to every story, and Serbian coach Aleksandar Djordjevic described it best, when asked about the qualification process.

"When the former Yugoslavia started creating winning generations, there were coaches like Kresimir Cosic, who organized mini-camps for the national team during the short season breaks. He slowly brought in more and more young players into his system during the year, and checked each one of them out. That was an advantage," he said.

"Today, we also have young players coming in, but with a pressure of results. This allows us to analyze and see which players we can count on in the future. This is for sure a good thing, not just for us, but also for the fans, for the players, to see where they are, what level they could be good on."

The pressure of results for these 2-0 teams will be seen in the near future.

While both Serbia and Germany are expected to be among the top three teams of Group G, they will also keep in mind the results they carry over to the Second Round of these FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers.

"It's not only important in the standings but important for our feeling, our confidence, important that we know we're able to beat a big team and this is a great time to do it. If you want to qualify for the World Cup, you have to beat a team like Serbia," Germany guard Bastian Doreth explained.

We could be in for some high-paced basketball. Serbia have scored 190 points over their first two games, more than any other European team, and they have done it on 48 assists, also the most in European Qualifiers. Germany are not that far behind, especially with their sweet shooting touch that has gathered them a 47.5 percent accuracy from beyond the arc. And on 40 three-pointer attempts.

Henrik Rodl's men have also been impressive on the defensive end. A 90-49 win away at Austria made the Germans the only team in these Qualifiers to concede less than 50 points in a game.

"February is the biggest window for us in order to secure a good position for the next round," German coach Henrik Rodl said. "We have an exciting challenge of playing Serbia at home. Both teams have won their two games so it's first against first, and someone has to lose. Whoever wins has an advantage moving forward."

His team will have a lot of fans behind them, but expect to see some Serbian flags in the stands, too, in Frankfurt. The arena is sold out, stage is set in the battle for the first spot in Group G.

Key Matchup: With Dennis Schroder and Milos Teodosic unavailable, both teams are now looking to do more damage in the frontcourt. Maik Zirbes and Miroslav Raduljica will be at the center of almost 70 points in the paint that these two teams average.

Key Stats: Serbia are at the top when it comes to scoring (95.0 points per game), but nobody shoots the three-pointers better than Germany (47.5 percent on 20 attempts per game). The math is easy for both teams: Germany have to slow the Serbian tempo down a bit; Serbia need to stay attached to the best German shooters out there.

FIBA