ImageGermany showed that they can be competitive even without Dirk Nowitzki, as they were leading throughout most of the game, but it was France that grabbed the win in the end with 70-65.

Tony Parker came up strong in the final three minutes, scoring his team's last 11 points, effectively leading the French side to victory. 

 

Parker had 19 points in total and 6 rebounds as well as 4 assists to go with it. Ronny Turiaf added 15 points and 14 rebounds and Nicola Batum scored 12 points while he also added 9 rebounds.

 

Germany saw Sven Schultze scoring 13 points, Demond Greene 12 and veteran Patrick Femerling adding 11 and 8 rebounds.

 

Germany 65-70 France

 

France: Diot 2, Batum 12, Jeanneau 2, Koffi, Mahinmi, Parker 19, Bokolo, Pietrus 3, De Colo 5, Diaw 7, Turiaf 15, Traore 5

 

Germany: Staiger, Schaffartzik 5, Schultze 13, Ohlbrecht 2, Wysocki 4, Hamann 9, Greene 12, Pleiss, Harris 4, Femerling 11, Benzing, Jagla 5

 

Game quotes:

 

Dirk Bauermann (Germany head coach): "It's always difficult to play against Tony Parker. He destroyed us in the last quater. We have a lot of young players without a big experience. Our big problem today was a defence but I am proud of my boys."

Konrad Wysocki (Germany): "We should focus on the game, on the finish. There are no excuses to be made. We played good basketball during almost the whole game, but almost wasn't enough to win."

Tony Parker (France): "The first game is always special. It was a tough game, The German team played pretty well, they have good defence. I tried to be aggresive at the end and take the risk in some situations. Next games we have to play much better."

Vincent Collet (France head coach): "The first half was better for Germany, but we showed character. The second half was much more agressive and we played more effectively on offense. We have to draw a conclusion from this game and tomorrow play much better."