25 September 2005

Greece concluded their improbable EuroBasket run with a convincing 78-62 victory over Germany to win the 2005 EuroBasket gold medal.

In front of a raucous pro-Greece sold out crowd of 20,000 at the Belgrade Arena, the Greeks used their trademark of teamwork, solid defence and strong outside shooting to claim their first gold medal since 1987.

25 September 2005

Germany's Dirk Nowitzki claimed the Most Valuable Player award at the 2005 EuroBasket and topped the competition's All-Tournament team.

Nowitzki won the honour - voted by international media representatives at Belgrade Arena - for leading Germany to Sunday's final against Greece. The Dallas Mavericks star went into the final as the tournament's leading scorer (26.7 ppg) and second-leading rebounder (10.8 rpg) and shot blocker (1.8 blpg).

09 October 2005

Serbo-Montenegrin legend Svetislav Pesic has joined the chorus of praise for Germany following their silver medal run at EuroBasket 2005.

Pesic, who led Germany to EuroBasket glory in 1993 and did the same with his native Yugoslavia in 2001, did not coach a team in this summer's tournament but his son Marco played for Germany as they stunned Slovenia in the quarter-finals and Spain in the semis.

Two years ago in Stockholm, Germany discovered pressure. After a surprising but yet brilliant streak with the national team (since Dirk Nowitzki has become one of the best players in the world), the “Nationalmannschaft” had a very disappointing tournament, and fell short of the high expectations the team created in recent years. This year in Belgrade, Germany are once again legitimate contenders for the title, but might very well not advance to the quarter finals.