Despite streetball, the dream team of the United States, Michael Jordan and Detlev Schrempf – basketball is still a subculture in Germany in the early 1990s. The national team in particular did not shine much and did not qualify for the last two European Championships.
Germany’s dream basketball team in 1993
At the beginning of the 1993 European Championship in Germany, the phenomenon seemed particularly unfavorable, and when the selection of the German Basketball Association (DBB), coached by Svetislav Pesic, also lost the opening game in a half-empty room in Berlin. With 103: 113 against Estonia, it seems all doubts confirmed. But then the German team fought its way back into the tournament against all odds, making it through the middle and quarterfinals.
That’s where the victory parade begins. In some dramatic games, the favorites from Spain and Greece were knocked out first – the feeling was great: Germany was in the finals of the European Championship for the first time. And that should not be all.
Nürnberger on Welp – important pass
On July 4, 1993 in the sold-out Munich Olympic Hall, the moment came: “If we keep our nerve, we can still win the final,” Hans-Jürgen “Hansi” Gnad said before the game. And that’s what Kai Nürnberger did a few seconds before the end, when he shot through the decisive point to the center Chris Welp, who was behind 68:70, which made his team the European champion with a dunking and the next bonus by 71:70.
The DBB selection celebrates the greatest achievements in the history of German basketball. The outsider has become the new European champion. Andreas Egertz, Christoph Nahr and Jan Wiecken from BR24 Sport recounted this special event in the 2013 documentary “Das Traum-Team”.
