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Summary Spain defeated Germany 77-68 while France edged out Turkey 68-64 to move closer to quarterfinals.
The Gasol brothers got the better of Dirk Nowitzki, leaving Germany on the brink of elimination at the European basketball championship.Pau and Marc Gasol combined for 43 points Wednesday to lead defending champion Spain past Germany 77-68 in the second-round group stage of the tournament.Led by 20 points from Tony Parker, France also moved closer to the quarterfinals by beating Turkey 68-64.Germany couldnt find an answer for Spains double threat down low, with Marc Gasol scoring a game-high 24 points and older brother Pau adding all of his 19 in the second half. Spain led most of the way but needed a late 9-3 run to secure the victory.At the beginning we didnt play very smart, shooting too much from outside and not finding our rhythm. We got ahead a couple of times, but we werent able to pull away, said Pau Gasol, the Los Angeles Lakers center who is playing with a sore ankle.Nowitzki, who led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA championship last season, had 19 points for Germany. Chris Kaman of the Los Angeles Clippers had 15 points and 12 rebounds, but both shot under 50 percent from the field.
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