Spain won the battle of the European heavyweights to roll Germany while defending champions Serbia and Montenegro notched a crucial first win at the World Basketball Championships on Monday.
HAMAMATSU: Spain won the battle of the European heavyweights to roll Germany while defending champions Serbia and Montenegro notched a crucial first win at the World Basketball Championships on Monday.
Spain came away a 92-71 winner in a clash of NBA stars for a 3-0 record in Group B to book their ticket into the knockout stages that start Saturday in Saitama.
Toronto Raptors forward Jose Calderon scored a game-high 20 points for Spain, followed by teammates Juan Navarro at 19 and Memphis centre Pau Gasol with 16. Germany’s Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki made 14 for them.
In Group A, Serbia whipped Lebanon 104-57 to keep their hopes alive after earlier losses to Nigeria and France. Orlando Magic center Darko Milicic had his best outing yet, scoring 20 points for the Serbs, all in the first half, with forward Ognjen Askrabic contributing 14.
Angola became the first side into the knockout rounds by downing New Zealand 95-73 behind 27 points from Eduardo Mingas to give them a 3-0 record.
Olympic champion Argentina joined them as an unbeaten team after swamping South American rival Venezuela 96-54 with Walter Herrmann’s 25 points setting the pace.
Spanish coach Pepu Hernandez, whose team avenged a loss to Germany in the semi-finals of the European championships last year, said he always believed his squad had what it took to put one over their rival.
“It was a special game and we believed in our defence. We believed in how to hold good shooters,” he said. “We knew the strength of the German team and we did our best in our defence. We were a little better in our offense as well.”
Serbia head coach Dragan Sakota was another happy man, knowing defeat would have spelt disaster.
“For us it was very important to win the game,” he said. “We knew we were a better team and had a better level, but especially after the two defeats, we needed to prove this.”
After losing to Nigeria and France, the defending champions must now win one of their final two matches against Venezuela or Argentina to advance.
Lebanon, who surprised Venezuela on the opening day of the tournament, must now beat France or Nigeria to have any chance of progressing. Argentina’s massive front line of San Antonio Spur Fabricio Oberto, Luis Scola and Ruben Wolkowyski dominated the boards for them, although 11 of 12 Argentine players scored.
“From the very beginning our intention was to play intense defense,” Herrmann said. “The good job we did on defense paid off on offense in the end.”
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