ATHENS, Greece — Croatia overcame a 30-point, 13-rebound effort by Dirk Nowitzki to beat Germany 76-70 today, securing a berth at the Beijing Olympics. Greece also earned a spot in the tournament by beating Puerto Rico 88-63.

Germany and Puerto Rico will play for the final Olympic spot on Sunday.

Croatia, which qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 1996, held Nowitzki to only 10 shots but his aggressive drives allowed him to get to the foul line, where he went 19-of-21.

Croatia jumped to a 24-14 lead after the first quarter, but, with Nowitzki scoring 13 in the second and Chris Kaman putting up eight points in the third, the Germans clawed back to take a 49-47 lead heading into the fourth.

Croatia tightened its defense even further and allowed the Germans only one point over the next four minutes, eventually building a 63-53 lead with 3:30 left in the game. The Germans closed within 69-67 on Nowitzki's layup with 38 seconds left but then fouled Croatia's Davor Kus 4 seconds later. Kus made the first shot and missed the second, but Croatia grabbed the offensive rebound and held on for victory,

"The referees allowed Croatia to play a very physical, not dirty, game and it took us more than 10 minutes to adjust to that and become more physical, too," Germany coach Dirk Bauermann said.

Marko Tomas led Croatia with 21 points.

"We had a little blackout in the third quarter, but we played great defense early in the fourth quarter," Croatia guard Roko-Leni Ukic said.

Greece applied its trademark defensive pressure to race to a 15-4 start against Puerto Rico.

Dimitris Diamantidis led Greece with 15 points, and JJ Barea, Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks teammate, scored 16 for Puerto Rico.

Center PJ Ramos got into early foul trouble, and Puerto Rico's most consistent scorer, Carlos Arroyo, tore a leg muscle in the second quarter. Greece gradually pulled away, leading 48-35 at halftime and increasing the advantage in the second half.

"If my players play the game they know, we will beat the Germans and make the Olympics," Puerto Rico coach Manuel Cintron said.

"We knew Puerto Rico is very dangerous," Greek coach Panagiotis Yannakis said. "Because it can deal with pressure and make you nervous if you are not concentrated all the time. My players never let up."