FIBA 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Day 1: July 14, 2008
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 The FIBA 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens got underway on Monday with big wins for host nation Greece, Croatia, Slovenia and New Zealand. Euroleague stars led the way throughout the day with big plays to spark their teams. In the opener, Kirk Penney, who played in the 2006 Euroleague final with Maccabi Tel Aviv, paced New Zealand with 25 points in a Group B win over Cape Verde. Germany will face Cape Verde in the next Group B encounter on Tuesday. In Group C, Tau Ceramica point guard Goran Dragic shined late for Slovenia in a 76-88 win over Korea. Slovenia takes on Canada in Tuesday’s first game. Marko Tomas of Real Madrid carried Croatia over Cameroon 93-79 in Group D. Puerto Rico will challenge Cameroon next on Tuesday. And in the day's finale, Greece routed Lebanon 119-62 with three players from Panathinaikos – Dimitris Diamantidis, Antonis Fotsis and Kostas Tsartsaris – and three more from Olympiacos – Theo Papaloukas, Ioannis Bouroussis and Giorgis Printezis – all scored in double figures. Brazil gets a crack at Lebanon on Tuesday.
 New Zealand struck first in Group D by overwhelming Cape Verde 77-50. Kirk Penney paced the winners with 25 points. Craig Bradshaw added 14 and Pero Cameron had 13 for the Tall Blacks. Jeff Xavier led Cape Verde with 22 points. Lindsay Tait had the honor to score first in the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on a three-point play. It ignited a 16-0 run in which Penney had 9 points and that Bradshaw capped with a layup. Cape Verde needed more than seven minutes to score through Rodrigo Mascarenhas, but another three-pointer by a red-hot Penney gave the Tall Blacks a 21-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. Nick Horvath struck from downtown to make it a 20-point game early in the second quarter. Cape Verde tried to change things through Xavier, but he only brought his team within 30-16. Pero Cameron and an unstoppable Bradshaw stepped up for the Tall Blacks as they boosted their margin to 42-20 at halftime. Xavier got some help from Avey Oliver, but Cape Verde only managed to trade baskets for a while, as New Zealand led 60-32 after three quarters and did not find much trouble to add a well-deserved win that sets up a do-or-die showdown against Germany on Wednesday.
 In Group C, Slovenia held off a spirited charge from Korea to get a leg up on the competition. Team captain Radoslav Nesterovic scored 26 points and grabbed 9 rebounds to pace Slovenia to the 76-88 win. Slovenia never trailed, opening up a double-digit lead midway through the second period and increased the advantage to as much as 19 before settling for a 37-53 halftime cushion. A Domen Lorbek triple early in the second half gave Slovenia its biggest lead, 37-58, but Korea would not fold. Four different players scored during a 9-0 spurt that ignited Korea and a Hee-Jung Joo triple made it 58-69 entering the final period. Sekeun Oh scored a pair of crucial baskets in the fourth as Korea narrowed the gap to 67-72. Tau Ceramica point guard Goran Dragic used his passing and then a steal and layup to restore Slovenia's 10-point lead, however Korea still hoped and a Min-soo Kim three-point play with 87 seconds remaining made it 74-80. But with the game winding down, Dragic calmly scored on Slovenia's next two possessions to seal the win. Dragic finished with 11 points and 4 assists while Union Olimpija big man Miha Zupan scored 11 in 10 minutes for Slovenia. Joo-sung Kim paced Korea with 21 points and Young-sam Jung added 18 in defeat.
 Croatia opened the action in Group D by topping Cameroon 93-79. Head coach Jasmin Repesa's charges shot 50% from downtown led by Real Madrid forward Marko Tomas and Zalgiris guard Marko Popovic to earn the valuable win. Tomas led five Croatia scorers in double figures with 22 points and Unicaja playmaker Davor Kus dished 6 assists. Tomas scored 11 during a 16-2 charge to open the second period as Croatia took a 45-25 halftime lead. Marko Banic's basket to start the second half gave Croatia a 22-point lead – its largest of the contest. Cameroon came back in the third quarter behind Harding Nana and then Joachim Ekanga Ehawa drilled a three to get within 62-53. But CSKA Moscow's Zoran Planinic ended the third period with a triple and began the fourth with another basket to keep Croatia in control. Cameroon again closed the gap to 9 again with seven minutes remaining, but Tomas came to the rescue again with some big three-pointers to hold Cameroon off and seal the win. Popovic added 17 points and 4 assists for the winners, while Planinic, Nikola Prkacin and Marko Banic netted 12 points apiece. Nana led Cameroon with 24 points, Parfait Bitee recorded 14 points and 6 assists and Ruben Boumtje Boumtje posted 8 points and 10 rebounds.
 In Monday's last game, host team Greece thrashed Lebanon 119-62. Panathinaikos big man Kostas Tsartsaris paced six Greek scorers in double figures with 15 points and Vassilis Spanoulis dished 8 assists to lead the rout. Greece scored the game's first three baskets, took its first double-digit advantage on a Dimitris Diamantidis three less than five minutes into the contest and cruised to a 32-17 lead after 10 minutes during which nine Greek players scored. The hosts never let up and continued to punish Lebanon as the lead reached 30 before settling at 54-27. The second half was for protocol only as every Greek player finished with at least two baskets. Greece outrebounded Lebanon 36-16 and recorded 27 assists. Antonis Fotsis also of Panathinaikos added 14 for Greece, Ioannis Bouroussis from Olympiacos scored 13, Diamantidis finished with 12 points and 6 assists, All-Euroleague point guard Theo Papaloukas had 10 and 7 and Olympiacos's Girgios Printezis netted 10 points. Fadi El Khatib scored 14 to lead Lebanon.
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