With his team on the brink of elimination, Dirk Nowitzki came through for Germany. Nowitzki made four free throws in the last 19 seconds and Germany stayed alive in the European Championship by edging Turkey 73-67 Friday. “Sometimes it's not always the most beautiful basketball. We only scored six points in the first quarter but the good thing was that the defense was good. We had only given up 13,” Nowitzki said after scoring 19 for Germany, 13 of them in the second half. Germany trailed 26-23 at halftime but came with some big points down the stretch to claim the win it needed so desperately. Chris Kaman, the Los Angeles Clippers center, led Germany with 20 points. He and Nowitzki had seven rebounds each. Chicago Bulls backup center Omer Asik, coming back from a broken left fibula, led Turkey with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Nowitzki, the MVP of the NBA Finals after taking the Dallas Mavericks past the Miami Heat for the title, is trying to take Germany to its second straight Olympics. The two finalists from this tournament will qualify for next year's games in London, while the next four teams will go to an additional qualifying tournament. Germany's progress to the quarterfinals here will depend on other results. Spain, the defending champion, has no such worries after making the last eight with a dominant performance from the Gasol brothers in a 84-59 tour over Serbia. They combined for 46 points and 18 rebounds. The brothers dominated in the paint, scoring 42 of their points from close range. In one stretch in the second quarter, Pau Gasol scored seven points and Marc Gasol added four in an 11-0 run. Spain led by as many as 29 at one point.
