GER - Cold Turkey in first half as Germany win in Berlin
BERLIN (FIBA World Championship) - Germany brushed aside a slow-starting Turkey 70-56 on Friday to advance to the Supercup final against Italy. In a warm-up event for the FIBA World Championship, Kerem Gonlum's three-point play accounted for the only scoring by Bogdan Tanjevic's team in the opening nine minutes.
BERLIN (FIBA World Championship) - Germany brushed aside a slow-starting Turkey 70-56 on Friday to advance to the Supercup final against Italy in Berlin.
In a warm-up event for the FIBA World Championship, neither side looked close to its best.
Kerem Gonlum's three-point play accounted for the only scoring by Bogdan Tanjevic's Turkey in the opening nine minutes and they trailed Germany 16-7 at the end of the first quarter.
After a pair of free throws from Mihtat Demirel gave the hosts a 23-11 lead midway through the second quarter, Turkey reeled off eight straight points but Germany closed the half on a 6-2 run to lead 29-21.
Dirk Nowitzki missed all four of his shots in the first half but he came to life after the interval and his three-point play stretched the hosts' advantage to 46-30. They carried a 52-40 lead into the final quarter and stayed in front for the remainder of the game.
Ademola Okulaja of Germany said he and his team-mates would be anxious to forget this effort.
"This was one of the worst games of all time," he said. "It was one to forget, and hopefully we will do so as soon as possible. We need to practice tomorrow and then we will hopefully play better tomorrow.
"The game was very aggressive and we did not move the ball well. A lot of our players have not found their rhythm. We can learn from this match. My personal conclusion of this game is: Just forget about it. We all need to raise it (performances) against Italy."
Nowitzki, the MVP of last year's EuroBasket, finished with only 12 points, as did Robert Garrett who was three of four from the arc.
"Dirk will get better," Okulaja said. "We all will get better. We all played poorly. Twenty-nine points (at half-time) - that tells it all. We know we´re better. We will not analyse this game, just forget about it and trash it."
Gonlum had 12 and Serkan Erdogan came off the bench to contribute 11 for Turkey, who face France in Saturday's third place game.
From Johannes Berendt
PA Sport, Berlin