US wary of German pride ahead of World Cup semi

Austin Reaves warned his United States teammates on Thursday that national pride will transform Germany’s players when they meet in the Basketball World Cup semi-finals.Reaves is set to square off against former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Dennis Schroder when the United States and Germany meet in Manila today with a place in the final up for grabs.Reaves expects Schroder to be a different player once he puts on his national team jersey and warned that he has a gift for "instilling confidence in others”."The passion that he has for basketball, when it comes to the Olympics, the World Cup, stuff like that it, intensifies by 10, just because he’s so passionate about where he comes from,” said Reaves."They’re all like that.”Germany are the only unbeaten team left at the World Cup and booked their place in the semi-finals with a narrow win over Latvia on Wednesday. Schroder had a night to forget, scoring only four of his 26 field-goal attempts in what he called "probably the worst game I ever played in my career”.The Americans are still wary of the threat that Schroder poses, and US captain Jalen Brunson said the Germany playmaker "can do whatever he wants on the court in any given moment”."He has those gifts,” said Brunson. "We just have to be locked in defensively. While he is a lot of what they do, he’s not all of what they do.”The United States also have plenty of talent at their disposal and showed it in their 100-63 quarter-final demolition of Italy on Tuesday.Head coach Steve Kerr is ready to unleash his full breadth of attacking talent against the Germans and said "they don’t need a speech” before the game."I think the main job of our staff right now is to give them a blueprint,” said Kerr."Everything that we’ve done in preparation over the last five-and-a-half weeks is to get to this point."Show them what they need to do, let them be themselves – that’s the plan.” Kerr called shooting guard Anthony Edwards – the Americans’ top scorer at the tournament – "one of the most talented players on Earth”.Kerr has been rewarded with impressive performances throughout his squad, and power forward Paolo Banchero said the players have been "counting down the days” until the final."This is the peak of the tournament, this is winning time, the last two games,” said Banchero. We’re locked in.”Bad boy Brooks as good as gold for Canada at World CupDillon Brooks is the man basketball fans love to hate, but Canada wouldn’t swap him for anyone as they prepare for a historic first World Cup semi-final today.Brooks is the troublemaker-in-chief in the Canada team, using all his dark arts of defending to needle, harass and bully opponents into submission.It was a role he performed to perfection in Wednesday’s quarter-final win over Slovenia in Manila, pushing Luka Doncic so far to the limit that the Dallas Mavericks superstar snapped and got himself ejected in the fourth quarter.But small forward Brooks, who in July swapped the Memphis Grizzlies for the Houston Rockets, does more than just get under opponents’ skin.The 27-year-old scored 22 points in Canada’s second-round win over defending champions Spain, with team-mate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander calling his performance "one for the books”."He’s a leader, he does the right things on the basketball floor, he plays with the right energy,” said Gilgeous-Alexander."He’s a guy that you always want on your team.”Brooks embellished his notoriety last season in the NBA when he clashed with Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James.Brooks called James "old” after the Grizzlies beat the Lakers in the second game of their playoff series, then got himself ejected in the next game after hitting the 38-year-old with a low blow.Pantomime villainBrooks was up to his old tricks against Slovenia, getting physical with Doncic and having a word in his ear whenever possible.The Manila fans cheered Doncic’s every touch and booed Brooks, who responded by blowing a kiss to the crowd after nailing an early three-pointer.Canada head coach Jordi Fernandez said Brooks "had to be better” after getting himself ejected shortly before Doncic, but he could not fault his player for effort."I think today was a defensive clinic of leading with his chest, showing his hands, pressuring full-court,” said Fernandez."And if you don’t think that way, then you don’t like basketball,” Fernandez said.Even Doncic had to give Brooks begrudging credit, saying he played with physicality "like he always does”."A lot of people don’t like him but I respect him for what he does, and he does that stuff pretty good,” said Doncic.