In one of the best, and tighest, games of the opening day Argentina managed to closely beat Germany by 78-74 in the dying seconds of the game.
Everyone expected a walk in the park by Argentina over the “Dirk-less” Germany. But Bauermann’s armada was not prepared to give up that easily, after all what kind of a German National Team would this be if they did so…
Argentina was leading during the entire first quarter which ended 23-18 to the South American side which used its twin towers of Scola and Oberto efficiently. But the second quarter was a totally different story as Germany led by FC Bayern’s new signing Greece tied the game 36-36 and then with a buzzer beater threepointer gave the chance to the Germans to lead at half time, 42-39.
Although Argentina started the second half without their starting point guard Pablo Prigioni they made a 14-0 run and took the lead 63-49 at some point behind a threepointer by Delfino, who was literally on fire during the entire game. With the aforementioned player scoring 11 points in the third quarter Argentina was leading 65-54 after thirty minutes.
Hamann, another fresh FC Bayern signing, and Greece tried their best to bring Germany back to the game and although the German side tied the game at 74-74 the Argentinians, being the oldest team of the tournament, took advantage of their experience and got the game with 78-74 being the final score.
Score by quarters: 23-18, 39-42, 54-65, 74-78
Argentina: Delfino 27 (8 rbs), Scola 20 (6 to), Oberto 11, L. Gutierrez 6, Quinteros 5, Prigioni 4 (5 ass), J. Gutierrez 2, Cequeira 1, Kammerichs 2, Jasen
Germany: Greene 20, Pleiss 12, Schaffartzik 8, Jagla 8 (10 rbs), Ohlbrecht 6 (2 blk), Hamann 6 (5 ass), Harris 6, Benzing 5, Schwethelm 3, Staiger, Gunther, McNaughton
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