Dirk Nowitzki overcame an early shooting slump to score a game-high 20 points and lead Germany past Brazil 78-65 and into the semifinals of the Olympic basketball qualifier on Friday. Greece, Puerto Rico and Croatia also advanced to Saturday's semis. Germany will face Croatia and Greece will play Puerto Rico. The semifinals winners will qualify for the 12-team Olympic tournament, while the losers will play on Sunday for the final berth. Angola, Argentina, Australia, China, Iran, Lithuania, Russia, Spain and the United States have already qualified. While Nowitzki started out shooting 1-for-8, Germany kept itself in the game thanks to its outside shooting. Overall, it made 13-of-26 3-pointers to Brazil's 3-for-19. Nowitzki scored 11 in the second quarter as his team went on a 22-2 run over the final 5 minutes to take a 45-26 halftime lead. The Brazilians could not get closer than 11 points the rest of the way. Nowitzki is now the tournament's top scorer, averaging 23.7 after 3 games. Chris Kaman of the Los Angeles Clippers, who got a German passport this month, scored 12 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Elsewhere, Greece beat New Zealand 75-48 behind guard Vassilis Spanoulis' 14 points. Lindsay Tait led New Zealand with 9. Greece employed its trademark stifling defense from the start to jump to a 15-2 lead and was never seriously threatened. New Zealand's Kirk Penney, who had averaged 27 points in the previous two games, was limited to 8 on 2-for-13 shooting. Croatia cruised past Canada 83-62 and Puerto Rico downed Slovenia 81-70. Spain routs Portugal Spain began its Olympic Games basketball preparation with an 84-35 rout of Portugal on Friday. Forward Felipe Reyes led the world champion with 12 points and eight rebounds, while former Toronto Raptors forward Jorge Garbajosa and Victor Claver, who was making his national debut, both contributed 11 points. Swoopes lifts Storm Sheryl Swoopes scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds in Seattle Storm's 65-59 win over Indiana Fever in the WNBA on Friday. The Storm came back from a 17-point first-half deficit to notch its seventh straight win. The win moved Seattle within a half game of Western Conference leader San Antonio. Other results: Shock 99, Mystics 62.
