Dirk Nowitzki leads Germany
SIAULIAI, Lithuania -- Dirk Nowitzki continued his winning ways on Wednesday helping Germany defeat Israel 91-64 in its opening game at the European Championship.
Nowitzki, who earned NBA Finals MVP after helping the Dallas Mavericks win a title, led all scorers with 25 points. Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman added 18 points and 10 rebounds for Germany.
An 18-0 run by Germany between the second and third quarters put Nowitzki and his teammates in control.
Guy Pnini led Isreal with 20 points and Lior Eliyahu had 11. Germany outrebounded Israel 39-24.
In other games, Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol scored 29 points to help defending champion Spain beat Poland, 83-78.
San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker had 31 points to help France beat Latvia 89-78, and Serbia, which lost to Spain in the title match two years ago, shook off a slow start to beat Italy 80-68.
The Atlanta Hawks' Zaza Pachulia scored 16 points in Georgia's 81-59 rout of Belgium, and Montenegro scored the last five points in overtime to beat Macedonia 70-65 at the start of the 24-team tournament.
Greece beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 76-67, Slovenia defeated Bulgaria 76-67 despite a late collapse and Turkey swept past Portugal 79-56.
Gasol and his brother Marc, who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies, dominated inside for Spain. They grabbed a game-high seven rebounds apiece and Marc added 16 points.
Juan Carlos Navarro scored 23 points for Spain, while Ricky Rubio, the guard signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves, missed all of his five field-goal attempts in 16 minutes of play, with two steals and two turnovers.
Toronto Raptors center Andrea Bargnani scored 22 points for Italy, and Danilo Gallinari of the Denver Nuggets added 15.
Guards Milos Teodosic and Milenko Tepic scored 15 points apiece for Serbia.
Bo McCalebb, a naturalized American, had 17 points for Macedonia.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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