By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Germany defeated Poland 82-69 in a game for the “Supercup” tournament that is taking place in Hamburg, without the Atlanta Hawks’ guard, Dennis Schroder. Pleiss was excellent with 16 points and 6 rebounds, a really good performance by the talented Zipser who scored 12 points and the first outbreak of the great Nowitzki in the second half! The Mavericks star was the top scorer with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 7/9 shots! For Poland, Marcin Gortat got 14 points and 8 rebounds.
The first quarter was balanced, but in the second Germany built up a lead and with a separate score of 22-12, they ended the half with 44-31. Tibor Pleiss was a protagonist with 14 points, but coach Fleming got some important contributions from Paul Zipser as well, who scored 10 points and got 5 rebounds in this period. The third period was once again balanced with Poland performing better on the defensive end, but not being able to reduce the deficit more than ten points (59-48).
At the start of the 4th period the visitors had a good run with a 6-0 streak and they reduced to 59-54. Germany responded with their own 5-0 streak and with a three-pointer by Nowitzki they brought back the score difference (64-54) to a double digit figure. The big star of the German team found his rhythm and this is how the win was secured for the home team. It was the first time that Nowitzki got “warmed up” and executed like… Dirk!
In any case, since Saturday morning Germany are aware that they will not have Maik Zirbes at their disposal ahead of the EuroBasket. “Zirbes’s absence is of course a bitter loss for us, he was giving us a lot of stability. The situation is very disappointing, because he was playing so well and he will be sorely missed,” commented Germany’s lead coach Chris Fleming.