Italy held Dirk Nowitzki in check but couldn't have expected Johannes Herber to score 10 of his 15 points in the third quarter and lead Germany to a 67-58 victory as the 2005 silver medallists advanced to the 2007 EuroBasket quarter-finals.

Nowitzki had just 15 points - well under his average of 26 points - and 10 rebounds, but Germany received plenty of support from their bench players, who tallied 29 points.

A place in the quarter-finals of EuroBasket 2007 - and possible qualification for the 2008 Olympics - rests in the balance today as Germany and Italy face off in Group F.

The winners will reach the last eight while the losers are left to contemplate what happened along the way, meaning that either the 2005 silver medallists Germany or 2003 bronze medallists Italy will book their flights home.

EuroBasket 1983 and 1999 both took place in France and both featured gold medal games pitting archrivals Spain and Italy against each other. It's really hard to say which one represented a milestone for Italian basketball.