EuroBasket 2011
September 1, 2011
Germany secured an easy 91-64 victory against Israel at the opening of the men's European basketball championship in Siauliai, Lithuania on Wednesday, ahead of a more challenging match against Italy on Thursday.
German-born NBA star Dirk Nowitzki ran the show, scoring 25 points for the 1993 champions. His German-American teammate Chris Kaman scored 18 points and 10 rebounds.
"I felt very well on the court and it was good to win the opening game in such emphatic fashion," Nowitzki told Germany's Sport 1 television. "We expect to improve as the tournament progresses. And we'll certainly have to put in another good performance against Italy on Thursday, because they're a really good team."
Group B's other matches of the day saw Serbia beat Italy 80-68 and France beat Latvia 89-78.
Meanwhile title-holders Spain won a hard-fought 83-78 victory against Poland.
"We showed nerves and our concentration was inconsistent, which is typical when you are under all the pressure to win the opening game of the tournament and the most important thing is that we got off to a good start," Spain's Italian coach Sergio Scariolo told a news conference.
The biennial "EuroBasket" runs through September 18.
Author: Andrew Bowen (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Mark Hallam