MADRID, Spain -- Pau Gasol scored 23 points, Jose Calderon made some big plays down the stretch and Spain beat defending champion Greece 82-77 Saturday to reach the final of the European basketball championships.
After Jorge Garbajosa hit two free throws to give Spain an 80-76 lead with 18 seconds to play, Theodoros Papaloukas jumbled the ball as he drove the lane. Juan Carlos Navarro, who also finished with 23 points, hit two free throws at the other end. Calderon scored 18 points.
Vassilis Spanoulis led Greece with 24 points and five assists.
Later Saturday, Lithuania was to play Russia in the other semifinal.
In earlier results Saturday, Dirk Nowitzki hit a clutch basket with 12 seconds to play as Germany rallied for a 69-65 win over Slovenia that gave the Germans a chance to qualify for next summer's Olympic Games.
Nowitzki's turnaround jumper at the top of the lane put Germany ahead 66-63 after it had trailed by nine points midway through the final quarter. The Dallas Mavericks forward led Germany with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
Croatia also earned a place in a pre-Olympic qualifying tournament with an 86-69 win over France, which got 18 points from San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker.
France will play Slovenia on Sunday for the last spot in the qualifying tournament. The two teams, along with Germany and Croatia, were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Marko Popovic scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half for Croatia.
"It's a big deal for us to have clinched this spot, that's why we came here,'' Popovic said. "We knew what we came here for and we achieved it.''
Spain has already clinched a place at next year's Beijing Games thanks to its world championship win over Greece last year. Two other semifinalists will also earn automatic spots to Beijing while the fourth will join seeds five through seven at the qualifying tournament.
"We know that tomorrow's game is the game for us,'' said France forward Boris Diaw, who scored 11 points. "And we need to have everyone on the team motivated.''
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Source: ESPN.com
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