It's taken some time, but Dirk Nowitzki is slowly finding his way into Germany's offense at the 2005 EuroBasket.

The Dallas Mavericks star has averaged a tournament-high 26 points as Germany (2-1) find themselves in a cross-elimination showdown with Turkey on Tuesday in Vrsac for the right to make the quarter-finals against Slovenia.

"Dirk's Dirk. He's gonna get his. The thing with him is to try and make him take tough shots," said Italy forward Dante Calabria - a theory which worked in both team's opening match as Nowitzki made just 8-23 from the field, including 4-14 from three-point range, against Italy.

		Nowitzki shot Germany to victory over Russia

"He's got the green light to do whatever he thinks is best for the team," German coach Dirk Bauermann said.

And it was Nowitzki's three-pointer with 27 seconds left (his fifth in 12 attempts) that gave Germany a 51-50 victory over Russia on Sunday at the Millenium Center.

"Dirk showed that he's an NBA superstar. He hit in the crunch time," Russia's Utah Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko said.

But it hasn't been just during crunch time where Nowitzki is shining. The 27-year-old is leading the tournament in rebounds (13.0 per game) after grabbing a tournament-high 19 against Russia. He's also tied for second in blocked shots with 1.7 per game and is averaging two assists and two steals per contest as well.

But there's no statistic for "importance to a team" - a category for which, if there were one, Nowitzki would be the top MVP candidate.

"What Dirk did today was unbelievable. I was telling him you have to take every shot. If it doesn't come from you it won't come from anybody," German coach Dirk Bauermann said after the Russian game, which saw Nowitzki score the last 11 points of the game for Germany.

Bauermann admitted that sometimes he feels he takes for granted what Dirk does.

"It's becoming a given in some ways that he'll do the things he does. But it's amazing, his desire and will."

Demond Greene added: "He stands above everyone as the go-to guy on our team. He's a great offensive player who can make some big shots. And we've needed him to do that."

Nowitzki - like all the more than 20 NBA players at 2005 EuroBasket - has had to re-adapt to the European game, including the shorter and narrower court, wider lane and different rules. But he's also had to adjust his preparations.

He usually has two hours time to warmup how he wishes in Dallas. Here it's 20 minutes. There's no extra room to warm up. And all 12 guys are shooting at one basket where as Nowitzki is used to having his own basket during warmups in Dallas, according to his mentor Holger Geschwindner.

"If you're used to playing it one way and then over five weeks you have to make the adjustments, it's difficult," Bauermann said. "It's a huge adjustment. Dirk's willing to make that adjustment. And he has the ability to do so as well."

Bauermann is full of praise about his prize player.

"It's a lot easier for me (to coach). He's the type of guy who can lead by example. He's a true winner who plays great defense. And he's very unselfish."

But regardless of how Bauermann's role players step up, Germany's chances for success rest solely in the hands of Dirk.

"In the long run, he has to find his own solution to how he can best help this team. And he needs to find a way to make the team win. He's got to make that decision for himself. Whether that's shooting more or less, passing more or whatever."