FIBA 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, quarterfinals: July 18, 2008
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 Four teams are left fighting for three remaining spots to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Summer Games after Friday's quarterfinals at the FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens. Three group winners, Croatia, Germany and Greece, won while Puerto Rico stunned Slovenia. Saturday's semifinals will see Puerto Rico take on Greece and Croatia meet Germany. The teams that win will secure a berth in Beijing while the losing teams will face off Sunday in a must-win feature in the tournament’s third-place game. The action opened Friday with Croatia ousting Canada 83-62 as Marko Popovic led five Croatian scorers in double figures. The second game was the day's big upset with Puerto Rico holding off Slovenia 70-81. Carlos Arroyo shined for Puerto Rico with 17 points and 5 assists. Germany used a 22-2 second-quarter run to blow by Brazil 78-65. Dirk Nowitzki dominated as usual and Pascal Roller was 5 of 6 from downtown to lead Germany. In the nightcap, Greece used its defense to grind New Zealand for a 75-48 win. The host team outrebounded the Tall Blacks 39-23 and had seven different players with at least 7 points led by Vassilis Spanoulis's 14 to record the win.
 Croatia reached the 2008 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament semifinals by thrashing Canada 83-62 in the first quarterfinal game on Friday. Croatia now needs just one more win to make it to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Marko Popovic, who played for Zalgiris last season, paced the winners with 17 points. Sandro Nicevic added 11 while Davor Kus of Unicaja, Marko Banic of iurbentia Bilbao Basket and Marko Tomas of Real Madrid each had 10 for Croatia. Olu Famutimi had 14 points for Canada while Rowan Barrett added 13. Barrett and Famutimi kept Canada close early in the game, but Zoran Planinic of CSKA and Nicevic helped Croatia to take an 18-13 lead late in the first quarter. A dunk by Joel Anthony and a basket by Rans Brempong helped Canada to tie the game at 20-20. Croatia did not panic, as a 7-0 run that Tomas capped with a wide open triple put his team ahead, 27-20. Consecutive triples by Popovic and Roko Ukic allowed Croatia to keep a 36-29 edge at halftime. Kus had 8 quick points after the break, including a three-pointer that broke the game open, 49-36, midway through the third quarter. It was do-or-die time for Canada, but Croatia kept excelling in defense while free throws by Nicevic made it a 20-point game, 62-42, after 30 minutes. Croatia soon boosted its margin to 79-51 and cruised to a well-deserved win.
 Puerto Rico stunned mighty Slovenia 70-81 to advance to the semifinals. Carlos Arroyo scored 17 points and dished 5 assists and Larry Ayuso added 12 as Puerto Rico moved within one win of returning to the Summer Olympic Games. Slovenia meanwhile stumbled late and will now view the summer games from home. It was Slovenia that struck first, scoring first on a Radoslav Nesterovic basket inside and then taking a 7-2 lead behind Uros Slokar. Arroyo and Ayuso answered from outside as Puerto Rico reeled off 7 straight points to take its first lead. Arroyo was joined by Carmelo Lee as Puerto Rico took a 15-21 lead after 10 minutes. Javier Mojica gave Puerto Rico a 9-point lead with a triple early in the second period, but a Nebojsa Joksimovic three-pointer awoke Slovenia as it clawed its way back. An Emir Preldzic jumper tied the score at 27-27 and a Sani Becirovic triple put Slovenia ahead again. Alex Falcon answered for Slovenia, but Miha Zupan evened the score at 34-34 at halftime. The game was close for much of the third quarter, with Puerto Rico holding a slim lead, however back-to-back triples from Mojica and Arroyo made it 49-57 and the Puerto Rico remained ahead 52-59 heading into the fourth. Slovenia came back behind Jaka Lakovic and Becirovic free throws cut the gap to 61-63. Five straight points from Ayuso put Puerto Rico back in control and Peter John Ramos made in 63-72 with just under four minutes remaining. Slovenia started to unravel as Nesterovic committed an unsportsmanlike foul and Juan Jose Barea came Puerto Rico its first double-digit lead with three minutes remaining. Slovenia would only score once more before the closing seconds as Puerto Rico moved within one win of a spot in the Beijing Olympics. Lee added 11 points and Mojica recorded 9 points and 7 rebounds for Puerto Rico. Slokar paced Slovenia with 16 points, Becirovic added 12 points, Nesterovic had 10 points and 11 rebounds and Lakovic finished with 10 points.
 Germany used a big second period to breeze past Brazil 78-65 and to book a spot in the semifinals. After big men Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman carried Germany in its group stage games, this time the whole team stood tall with five German players scoring in double figures. Their combined efforts were too much for Brazil, which was once again led by All-Euroleague center Tiago Splitter and his 16-point, 6-rebound and 3-assist performance. Brazil hung in for the first period-and-a-half and led 23-24 on a Splitter free throw, but Nowitzki scored 8 and Pascal Roller drilled a pair of three-pointers during a 22-2 charge that broke the game open. Germany led 45-26 at halftime and increased the lead to 57-30 on Nowitzki free throws midway through that period. Brazil tried a last-ditch comeback with Joao Paulo Batista of Barons/LMT, Duda Machado and Splitter fueling a 1-11 charge that made it 63-50 with six minutes to play. Brazil managed to cut the difference to 11, the last time coming on a Splitter basket with 2:20 left to play, but another Roller triple sealed Brazil's fate and catapulted Germany one step closer to Beijing. Nowitzki led Germany with 20 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, Roller finished with 15 points on 5-of-6 three-point shooting, Demond Greene added 14, Kaman posted 12 points and 14 rebounds and Konrad Wysocki had 10 points and 6 boards. For Brazil, Marcelo Machado added 11 points and Marcelo Huertas scored 9.
 Greece pleased the fans that turned up in Athens by blasting New Zealand 75-48 to move on to the semis. Greece, which never trailed, relied on superb defense to win with ease. The hosts never allowed the Tall Blacks any easy shots, focusing particularly on Kirk Peneny, who came into the game with a tournament-high average of 27 points per game. Penney wound up with just 8 points and 1-for-11 three-point shooting. A run of 13 unanswered points in the opening minutes set the stage for what would be an easy win for the hosts. Kostas Tsartsaris scored 5 and four other players also scored points during that run that made it 15-2 midway through the period. Penney gave the Kiwis hope with a triple that ended the first quarter at 22-12, but Nikos Zisis and some strong team defense kept Greece rolling to a 37-20 halftime advantage. New Zealand didn’t quit, but the hosts were too strong. The Greek lead continued to swell throughout the second half, rising as high as 28 points en route to victory. The Panathinaikos backcourt duo of Vassilis Spanoulis, with 14 points, and Dimitris Diamantidis, with 11 points and 8 rebounds, led Greece. Olympiacos's Ioannis Bouroussis and Theodoros Papaloukas added 9 and 8 points, respectively. Lindsay Tait led New Zealand with 9 points and Pero Cameron, Mikla Vukona and Penney added 8 apiece for the Tall Blacks.
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