Nowitzki not enough as Croatia beats Germany, 76-70

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Croatia secured a berth at the Beijing Games today by overcoming a 30-point, 13-rebound effort by Dirk Nowitzki to beat Germany, 76-70, as FIBA’s Olympic qualifying tournament winds down in Athens.

Greece also earned an Olympic spot today by beating Puerto Rico, 88-63. Germany and Puerto Rico will play for the final berth on Sunday.

This is the first time since 1996 that Croatia has qualified for the Olympics.

Nowitzki was held to only 10 shots, but his drives through the lane took him to the foul line a lot, where he made 19 of 21 free throws.

Croatia, which had a 10-point lead after the first quarter, allowed Germany to rally, with Nowitzki scoring 13 in the second and the Clippers’ Chris Kaman putting up eight points in the third. Behind those two, Germany clawed its way back to take a 49-47 lead heading into the fourth.

But Croatia allowed the Germans only one point over the next four minutes, eventually building a 63-53 lead with 3:30 left in the game. Germany closed to within 69-67 on a Nowitzki layup with 38 seconds left but then fouled Croatia’s Davor Kus, who made the first free throw and missed the second. Croatia, however, came up with the rebound and held on to win.

‘The referees allowed Croatia to play a very physical, not dirty, game and it took us more than 10 minutes to adjust to that and become more physical, too,’ Germany coach Dirk Bauermann said.

Marko Tomas led Croatia with 21 points.

Greece applied its trademark defensive pressure to race to a 15-4 start against Puerto Rico.

Dimitris Diamantidis led Greece with 15 points, and JJ Barea, Nowitzki’s Dallas Mavericks teammate, scored 16 for Puerto Rico.

Center PJ Ramos got into early foul trouble, and Puerto Rico’s most consistent scorer, Carlos Arroyo, tore a leg muscle in the second quarter. Greece gradually pulled away, leading 48-35 at halftime and increasing the advantage in the second half.

But Puerto Rico coach Manuel Cintron was optimistic about Sunday’s game.

‘If my players play the game they know,’ he said, ‘we will beat the Germans and make the Olympics.’

-- Debbie Goffa

Inset: Chris Kaman tries to score past Croatia’s Marko Tomas. Credit: Louisa Gouliamaki /Agence France-Presse/Getty Images