Germany's last chance?

This Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Greece was Dirk Nowitzki's last opportunity to go to the Olympics. After not making it directly at EuroBasket 2007 in Spain where Germany finished fifth behind Russia, Spain, Lithuania and Greece, Nowitzki's team went  to Athens looking to fulfil his dream and did just that. Now that it's done, Nowitzki will want to make Germany shine in China.

The 2007-08 domestic campaigns involving most of Germany's National Team players were not what many of them had expected. Dirk Nowitzki and his Dallas Mavericks, among the pre-season title favourites, finished seventh in the NBA's Western Conference. They lost in the first round of the play-offs against the New Orleans Hornets, despite great performances from Nowitzki.

In Germany, meanwhile, Brose Baskets Bamberg with their five National Team players - Ademola Okulaja, Mithat Demirel, Steffen Hamann, Demond Greene and Robert Garrett - endured one of the most disappointing seasons the club had seen in a long time. In the Euroleague, Bamberg failed to reach the Top 16. In the BBL, they suffered a much bigger disappointment by falling to Oldenburg in the play-off quarter-finals. Oldenburg moved on to the semi-finals to meet ALBA Berlin, a team with German National Team players Patrick Femerling, Philip Zwiener  and Johannes Herber that finished the regular season in first. Berlin won the title and will take Bamberg's Euroleague spot for next season.

Jan-Hendrik Jagla had a far more successful season in Spain, winning the ULEB Cup and the Copa del Rey with DKV Joventut Badalona. In the play-offs, they were eliminated by FC Barcelona in the semi-finals. Jagla continued to develop his game in Spain but lost playing time in the Germany team following the arrival of Chris Kaman - the Los Angeles Clippers' American-born center whose grandparents were German. Kaman received his passport in early July and played a lot of minutes for the Germans at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Then there is the story of Bamberg and Germany coach Dirk Bauermann, who had to make a very hard decision after Bamberg's play-off exit. Forced to choose between remaining coach of Bamberg or of Germany, he opted for the latter. He is on a five-year contract with the federation. While players may come and go, he will remain and that is stability that should benefit Germany's National Team.

The good thing about playing for one's country is that there is always a new tournament to play in, so it's easy to get rid of the bad taste of a poor league campaign. For Nowitzki, this definitely rings true. One of his aims as a leading player in the world has always been to play at an Olympic Games.

Nowitzki came to Germany in the middle of May to start his annual practice sessions with his mentor Holger Geschwinder. At the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Germany won their games against Cape Verde, New Zealand and Brazil (thanks to five three-pointers from Pascal Roller) but lost to Croatia in the semi-finals. Needing to win against Puerto Rico in the final game of the qualifying event, Germany did just that.

Kaman, who played a very important role for Germany at the qualifying event despite having only just joined the team, said after the Germans had claimed the last place on offer for the Olympics: "This is 12 days for me and it's 12 years for Dirk. I can't even imagine the emotions he is feeling right now."

With Nowitzki and Kaman in the team, anything is possible this summer. Remember Nowitzki's MVP performance at EuroBasket 2005 in Belgrade? Germany entered the second half of a must-win game against Russia in the preliminary round trailing 26-16 and the team needed a three-pointer by Nowitzki with 27 seconds remaining to seal the 51-50 thriller. Even though Nowitzki carried the German unit, it was a team effort that earned the silver medal. Without the help of defensive maniac Demond Greene or the strong play of point guard Pascal Roller, the superstar would not have brought Germany as far as he did.

Nowitzki paid tribute to all of his teammates after they qualified for the Olympics.

"They hung in there with me over the years," Nowitzki said.

"We took some disappointments, we had some tough losses over the years but we stayed positive, kept coming back for more and put a lot of sweat and hours on for this.
"They definitely, all of them, deserve it. I am proud of all of them and we are going to enjoy it."


How did they qualify?
EuroBasket 2007
5th, (4W - 5L)

Results

Sept-3rd 2005    Germany b. Czech Republic    83-78
Sept-4th 2005    Germany b. Turkey    79-49
Sept-5th 2005    Lithuania b. Germany    84-80

Quarter-final round

Sept-8th 2005    France b. Germany    78-66
Sept-10th 2005    Slovenia b. Germany    77-47
Sept-12th 2005    Germany b. Italy    67-58

Quarterfinal

Sept-13th 2005    Spain b. Germany    83-55

Classification, 5th to 8th place

Sept-15th 2005    Germany b. Slovenia    69-65

5th place Final

Sept-16th 2005    Germany b. Croatia    80-71