Without any doubts, both teams were facing a tough challenge when they had to enter the FIBA Eurobasket 2009 without some of their key players. Nonetheless, Germany and Croatia made it to the second group stage and are now hoping to advance to the quarterfinals in order to secure a spot at next year’s FIBA World Championship. Thus, in the last game of Group E the Croatian squad will take on the underdogs from Germany on Tuesday at 8 p.m. GMT.

While Croatia has to play without former NBA forward Gordan Giricek, they still have a very deep roster composed of excellent Euroleague players. Therefore, their second place finish behind Greece in the first round-robin stage was no surprise at all and merely fulfilled the Croatian fans’ expectations. So far, Milwaukee Bucks point guard Roko Ukic has proven great leadership on the floor and averaged 11.7 points, 3.3 assists and 2.0 rebounds in 27 minutes playing time.

Germany on the other hand was expected to lose all three of their preliminary round games after the team announced that Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman will not be able to play for them at this year’s FIBA Eurobasket. Although there is no doubt that the absence of NBA All-Star Nowitzki is a huge setback for the young German team, they finally had a chance to show that they can play instead of handing the ball to the Dallas Mavericks star on every other possession. Many were surprised that they almost beat the French in their first game despite France’s roster being stacked with NBA players. Subsequently Germany upset the defending champion Russia in a clutch 76-73 win to advance to the next round.

Taking everything into consideration, Croatia clearly is the favorite to win this crucial game before the quarterfinals. However, the Germans have demonstrated that they are not to be underestimated despite their lack of superstars. As in their previous games, Germany can be expected to play with a lot of energy and tough team defense. Whether they will be able to give the Croatians a run for their money remains to be seen, but if they can execute on the offensive end of the floor they could be able to stay within striking distance until the last minutes of the game.

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