Dirk Nowitzki scored 35 points and pulled in 11 rebounds as Germany needed overtime to beat the Czech Republic 83-78 on Monday on the opening day of the European Championship in Spain.
In Alicante, where Tony Parker scored 16 as France held off Poland 74-66, a last-second 3-pointer by Jaka Lakovic lifted Slovenia over Olympic runner-up Italy 69-68 in Group D.
Defending champion Greece opened with a 76-66 win over Israel in a Group A match in Granada, where Andrei Kirilenko's 24 points and 12 rebounds led Russia over Serbia 73-65.
NBA All-star forward Pau Gasol scored 19 as Spain routed Portugal 82-56 in Sevilla to begin its campaign to become the third country to claim the European trophy while holding the world title. Latvia surprised Croatia 85-77 in the other Group B match.
In Group C, three-time champion Lithuania rolled over Turkey 85-69.
At Palma de Mallorca, Nowitzki scored 19 second-half points and four more in overtime as Germany rallied from an early deficit in their Group C game.
"This was a lot tougher than we thought it would be. But it was good that we held together," the Dallas Mavericks veteran said.
The Czech Republic led 31-25 at halftime thanks to 10 points by forward Lubos Barton.
But the Germans rallied in the second half behind Nowitzki, who hit a 3-pointer to spark a 10-1 run that put Germany ahead 46-44 in the fourth quarter.
He connected on a turnaround jumper from the top of the key to put the Germans ahead 72-68 with 51 seconds remaining in regulation.
The Czechs had closed to 73-72 with 20 seconds to go before Ladislav Sokolovsky sank both free throws to tie the game. Mithat Demirel's last-second desperation shot missed.
Nowitzki's second field goal in overtime put Germany ahead by three with 49 seconds to go. Jakob Houska dunked after a Barton miss to pull the Czechs within one with 29 seconds left, but a pair of Demirel free throws and a dunk by Demond Greene decided the game as the Czechs didn't get another shot until just before the game ended.
At the Centro de Tecnificacion, the lead changed four times in the last 30 seconds with Slovenia's Lakovic hitting his winner from more than a meter behind the line.
Massimo Bulleri's jump shot gave Italy a 65-64 lead -- its first since it was ahead 9-8 in the first quarter -- before Lakovic converted two free throws.
Bulleri drove the lane before passing to Matteo Soragna, whose three from the corner with five seconds left put Italy back in front 68-66 and set the stage for Lakovic's dramatic winner.
Earlier, France shot 42 percent from the field and had four players score in double figures.
Leading 13-12, Boris Diaw hit a 3-pointer and Parker then connected on a layup and two subsequent free throws as France pushed ahead of Poland for good.
At Granada, Vasileios Spanoulis scored 19 while Konstantinos Tsartsaris and Dimosthenis Ntikoudis added 15 each as Greece surged with a 9-1 run early in the fourth quarter to take control 61-52 and beat Israel.
Andrei Kirilenko scored 16 in the second half as Russia held off a Serbia side that shot only 33 percent from the field.
Russia watched a 16-point first-half lead shrink to six before Nikita Morgunov's jumper at the halftime horn ended a 15-5 Serbian run.
After Milenko Tepic missed a chance to put Serbia ahead with two minutes to go in the third, Kirilenko completed a 3-point play to stretch Russia's lead to 51-46. Serbia closed to within three on its next possession before Russia slowly pulled away with Morgunov sinking a 3-pointer to hike the lead to 10 with 1:02 remaining.
In Sevilla, fans laid flowers and lit candles outside the San Pablo Municipal Stadium for Sevilla soccer player Antonio Puerta, who died on Aug. 28 after he collapsed during a Spanish league game and had several later heart attacks.
Inside, Gasol's 3-pointer put Spain ahead of Portugal for good at 10-8 and the hosts closed the half on a 36-13 run, allowing coach Pepu Hernandez to play his entire squad playing time except for guard Juan Carlos Navarro, who is injured.
Spain next plays Latvia, which earlier saw center Andris Biedrins score a team-high 14 points and had five players score in double figures in the win over Croatia.
Sarunas Jasikevicius scored 18 and fellow NBA players Darius Songaila and Linas Kleiza had 12 each as Lithuania handled Turkey.
The top three from each group will go on to the second round of group play. The second round will decide which teams will go on to the quarter-finals, which begin in Madrid on Sept. 13.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but