Eurobasket 07 - Czech vs Germany 03/09

Duration: 03:14 minutes Upload Time: 07-09-05 15:38:29 User: monuow :::: Favorites :::: Top Videos of Day

Description: 03 September 2007 Late Rally Sees Germany Overcome Czechs Dirk Nowitzki collected 35 points and 11 rebounds and Mithat Demirel added 18 points off the bench as Germany held off the Czech Republic 83-78 in overtime in their Group C opener in Palma de Mallorca. "This was a lot tougher than we thought it would be. But it was good that we held together," said Nowitzki, who tallied 21 of his points after the break while also adding one steal and two blocked shots. While Nowitzki was his usual NBA MVP self throughout the game, Demirel really stepped up in the fourth period and in the extra session as he hit 11 of 14 foul shots. None were bigger than his pair to give Germany an 81-78 lead with 28 seconds to play. Demirel then drew an offensive foul charge on Jakub Houska with 18 seconds remaining, Radek Necas (Czech Republic) and Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) Nowitzki and Demirel came to Germany's rescue late in the game allowing Demond Greene to ice the game with a break-away dunk just seconds later. "We tried to stop Nowitzki and couldn't, and the only other player to do anything for them was Demirel. We let two people beat us tonight, so that's very disappointing," said Czech guard Pavel Benes. Ademola Okulaja did contribute a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds and afterwards said: "Everybody is happy to get the first victory in the tournament and we can look forward to the next game. But we need to improve, especially on our defence." Jiri Welsch paced the more-balanced Czechs with 22 points while Lubos Barton had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Houska had 12 points. Neither team could find much of a rhythm offensively early on even though Barton opened the game with a three-pointer as the Czechs pulled ahead 5-0. The pair of Barton and Welsch helped keep the Czechs ahead 14-12 after one period. Germany struggled to get the ball to Nowitzki, who scored six points but took just five shots. The NBA star began taking more initiative on offense against the Czech box-and-one defense. Nowitzki's driving lay-up trimmed the deficit to 19-16. But Germany proved unable to score without their main man, and Zdenek Hummel's side opened a six-point lead on a three-point play by Petr Benda (22-16) and Barton's three-pointer (25-19). A jumper by Demirel got Germany back to within 27-25 with 1:13 remaining. But Maurice Whitfield and Barton drained jumpers for the 31-25 half-time scoreline. The lead was 43-26 after Welsch's free throw with 2:13 to play in the third period. But Nowitzki's three-pointer started a 10-1 run to close the third period, which Germany led 46-44 following Nowitzki's two foul shots with 13 seconds left. That gave the Germans a strong push into the final period and they went ahead 56-51 on back-to-back three-pointers by Nowitzki and Okulaja. The Czechs eventually evened things at 74-74 with 10 seconds remaining with two foul shots by captain Ladislav Sokolovsky. Nowitzki's jumper from the left wing gave Germany a 79-76 lead with 50 seconds left before Demirel's heroics.