Germany secured its maiden FIBA Basketball World Cup title with an 83-77 win over Serbia as the tournament co-hosted by the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia came to its climax on Sunday.
Tournament MVP Dennis Schroder led Germany with a game-high 28 points at Manila's Mall of Asia Arena, which hosted the knockout stage after group and classification games at Okinawa Arena and other venues across the three countries.
Both finalists earned automatic qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics as the two best-ranked teams from Europe at the World Cup. They will be joined in Paris by Japan, which booked its ticket as the top-performing side from Asia.
Germany broke open the final with a 13-2 run in the third quarter before a late surge from Serbia, led by Aleksa Avramovic with 21 points, put the contest on a knife's edge in the closing minutes. Schroder sealed it with a layup with 21 seconds left.
Coach Gordie Herbert's team finished the tournament with a perfect 8-0 record, having tipped off its campaign with an 81-63 victory over Japan in Okinawa-based Group E on Aug. 25.
"It's a little bit of a surreal moment," Herbert said. "Tremendous group of players. We were a team first, then we had individual talent."
Veteran NBA guard Schroder said the entire German roster had single-mindedly committed to Herbert's basketball philosophy based around tough defense and quick ball movement.
"How we played as a team was special," Schroder said. "Everybody is moving (the ball), touching it and playing defense."
Canada earlier claimed the bronze medal with a 127-118 overtime win against the United States in the third-place playoff.
Japan finished the tournament with a 3-2 record to qualify for the Olympics as a non-host for the first time since the 1976 Montreal Games.
Coach Tom Hovasse's team scored its biggest recent win at a major international tournament by coming back to beat Group E opponent Finland in a 98-88 thriller.
After missing out on the second group stage for the top 16 teams, Japan went 2-0 in its classification games against Venezuela and Cape Verde to ensure it finished ahead of its continental rivals in the final standings.
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