15 September 2007

Less than 24 hours after their inexplicable loss to Greece last night, Slovenia had a sense of deja-vu.

Facing Germany in the 5-8 classification games Slovenia lost 69-65 after a big comeback by their opponent in the last minutes.

It wasn't as bad as last night, but once again Slovenia managed to lose a big lead in the

		Demond Greene had 16 points in the win for Germany.

last minutes.

Oddly the fourth quarter score from last night, 23-11 against Slovenia, was the exact score of today's last quarter.

"We were really disappointed after not playing so great in the last couple of days," said Germany's Demond Greene who had 16 points.

"We didn't reach our main goal here which was a medal, but at least we got the ticket to the pre-Olympic tournament."

Slovenia played the last game last night and was six seconds short of a historical performance in the semi-finals over favourites Greece, but seemed to have recovered just fine, until the last minutes.

Germany on the other hand had one more day to rest and lost by a big margin to Spain in the quarters, so their mental readiness seemed better, and they stepped up in the last minutes.

Germany deleted a 60-51 Slovenian lead in the last 5:16 behind an 18-5 run led by Dirk Nowitzki who made 10 of his team's last 12 points and finished the game with 28 points and 10 rebounds.

Nowitzki scored seven early points in the first five minutes of the game, as Germany held a 12-6 lead.

Slovenia hit a couple of shots from long range, to tie the score and finish the first quarter down 18-16.

Germany maintained the lead early in the second quarter, until Slovenia once again found their hot hand in three pointers by Goran Jagodnik and Erazem Lorbek, who gave Slovenia their first lead in the game, 25-23.

Nowitzki was there to give Germany the lead back, and turned in 13 first half points, before missing a buzzer beater tip in, but Germany still held a 32-31 lead after twenty minutes.

The lead changed hands seven times in the first seven baskets of the third quarter.

Steffen Hamann's lay-up made it 39-38 with 5:52 but that was the last German lead for a long time.

Jaka Lakovic and Matjaz Smodis led a Slovenian 9-0 run which led to the first double-digit lead of the game.

Slovenia missed open shots early in the fourth, and waited more than three and a half minutes before scoring their first fourth quarter points.

Despite a big block by Erazem Lorbek on Nowitzki, during that period, Germany came back to minus three, but Smodis and Raso Nesterovic quickly made it a nine point game again, 60-51.

Germany once again stepped up their defense and with three hits from long range by Demond Greene, Ademole Okulaja and Nowitzki tied the game at 62-62 with 1:56 on the clock.

Lakovic connected on only one of two from the line and then made a turnover, and that's where the deja-vu started.

Hamann found an open path to the basket and gave Germany their first lead since his last basket in the 24th minute, and after Okulaja stole a bad pass by Jagodnik, Nowitzki scored a fade-away from the top of the key to make it 66-63 and march for the win.

Germany will play Croatia for the fifth spot while France and Slovenia will fight for the seventh place and the last ticket to the pre-Olympic tournament.

15 September 2007

Germany

Coach Dirk Bauermann: "We're very happy and extremely pround, but you have to take your hat off to Slovenia. For 10 days I thought they were possibly the best team in this tournament. Against Greece they almost had the game won and then lost today and home with nothing. I respect everything they do, so hats off to them."

"As far as our team goes, I'm so proud of them. When we were down nine, there were a lot of concerned faces. But I knew that if we played defense and kept moving that we'd have a chance. And the guys did that."

"It wasn't Dirk (Nowitzki). It was Demond (Greene), Steffen (Hamann) and Ademola (Okulaja). We're a good team who has a superstar. People talk about competitive greatness, being able to play your best when you need it most. And they had that tooday. It was a great win for German basketball."

"The Olympics are the biggest stage in the world of sports. It's everybody's dream to walk into the Olympics. And now we're closer. It was a long, hard summer. I'm just really happy they were rewarded. If you work so hard and you go home with nothing, that's so hard. So this keeps our dream alive. But it's going to be just as hard to qualify for the Olympics as it was to qualify for the pre-Olympic tournament from this tournament."

Guard Demond Greene: "First of all, it was a very important game after the big loss against Spain. We had the same motivation as we did against Italy after losing to Slovenia before, to come out strong and show that we can play better."

"We came here with the goal to win a medal and to be on the podium like two years ago. We didn't get the goal by losing to Spain. So now we got our second goal. And now we can go home and keep our Olympic dream alive." 

Slovenia

Coach Ales Pipan: "It was a very difficult and very important game for us. We lost for the second time in two days. We're very upset. But you saw everything. Our players were a little bit tired, without concentation at the end of the game, without power, without energy. We have to forget this game immediately and prepare for the game against France."

Guard Jaka Lakovic: "It was very difficult game after yesterday's difficult, difficult defeat. In less than 24 hours we had to re-group."

"Again we tried to give our best to beat Germany. But today we just didn't have enough, I don't know. Maybe a little bit of concentration, a lack of energy, power. I don't know. The truth is we lost this game but I'm sure that our team will stay together untel tomorrow night and try to save our possibility to make the Olympics."

15 September 2007

Slovenia and Germany both come into their showdown in the 5th-8th classification round wanting nothing more than to forget their last game.

Slovenia saw defending champions Greece use a 14-1 run over the final 2:30 in an absolutly heart-wrenching quarter-final loss and Germany were blown out by Spain, trailing by 37 points in the fourth period.

		Jaka Lakovic and Slovenia will have to try to recover from a heart wrenching loss to Greece.

Regardless of their last results, Saturday's game has loads of meaning - namely a berth in the pre-Olympic tournament for the winner.

The losers have one more chance to reach the pre-Olympic event in the game for seventh place.

Last Time Out: Slovenia were shocked by the Greece come-back 63-62 while Germany were thrashed by world champions Spain 83-55. The teams met earlier in the tournament as Slovenia pasted Germany 77-47 in the qualifying round on Monday.

Key Match-Up: Matjaz Smodis vs Dirk Nowitzki - this game very well could be decided at this position. Smodis scored 22 points in 20 minutes against Germany earlier in the tournament while Nowitzki has struggled down the stretch of the tournament.

X-Factor: The starting German back-court of Steffen Hamann and Demond Greene have combined for just 8.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game while averaging 2.1 turnovers. Johannes Herber meanwhile has built up his confidence in the past two games off Germany's bench with 22 points in 41 points.

Stats: Nowitzki has scored just 16, 15 and 11 points in Germany's last three games - while averaging 30 minutes - after averaging 29 points over the first three games.

Sounding Off: Slovenia coach Ales Pipan: "We can't give up now. We have to win at least one game to reach our goal. It'll be very difficult for us. We have to play tomorrow like it's a normal game. I told my players in the last time out to play tough defense and switch everything on the screens."