EUROBASKET 2011

Danilo Gallinari and Italy will look to bounce back from their loss against Serbia when they take on Germany

Latvia v Serbia - Thursday at 15:15 (14:15 CET)

Every team in Group B will be thinking the same thing heading into Thursday's games at the EuroBasket in Lithuania.

Nothing can be taken for granted.

Serbia take on Latvia and both sides played in very close contests.

The Blues had to overcome an early deficit and then hold on against Italy while Latvia shot the ball very well against France and stayed in the game until the end before falling.

Latvia will know that Serbia, the silver-medal winners of 2009, have the luxury of a deep bench with any one of their 12 players seemingly able to take over in crunch time.

Against the Italians, one of those players was Milan Macvan, who had 10 of his 14 points in the second quarter when Serbia took the lead for good overcame an early eight-point deficit.

Milenko Tepic, whose star hasn't risen at the rate of teammates like Milos Teodosic, also had 15 points.

"For sure, Tepic is a very important part of our team," Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic said.

"And he really played one great game tonight (against Italy).

"And Macvan is a young player, but he was maybe the key for our team to come back."

Latvia have their youngest-ever team at a EuroBasket but it was a cagey veteran, captain Janis Blums, who led the team to a near upset of France with 32 points.

Israel v France - Thursday at 17:45 (16:45 CET)

France will be breathing a sigh of relief as they go into their game against Israel.

Vincent Collet, the coach, will be hoping his Les Bleus grew in confidence after winning against a Latvia team that could not have played much better.

While Tony Parker led the team yet again with 31 points, it was timely shooting by Nicolas Batum and Mickael Gelabale - both who hit late three-pointers - that also made the difference.

They must be ready against Israel, a team loaded with players who have experience at the highest level in European club basketball but suffered a 91-64 defeat to Germany in their first game.

"We came here very positive and we know it's going to be difficult in each game," Israel sharpshooter Yotam Halperin said.

"Now we are going to face one of the best teams in the competition so there is no time to think about tonight's (Wednesday's) game and hopefully we're going to be better against France."

Italy v Germany - Thursday at 21:00 (20:00 CET)

Italy will go up against Germany in the last Group B game of the day.

The Azzurri were hugely disappointed to fall against Serbia, yet the team will try to take the positives out of the game.

"It's a long championship," said Danilo Gallinari, who had 15 points for Italy.

"It was just the first game against one of the best teams, so we'll be ready."

Gallinari appeared to injure his ankle but coach Simone Pianigiani expects his star to be ready.

Anyone wondering if Germany might struggle to adapt to Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman, who joined the team late in its preparations, were reminded of how easy it can be to play with two superstars.

Nowitzki had 25 points and Kaman poured in 18 while also corralling 10 rebounds in their romp over Israel.

Heiko Schaffartzik, the Germany guard, said: "Dirk and Chris Kaman give us a whole new quality that our team didn't have the past two years.

"Of course, we're more motivated to give our best in a sense that we want to bring our A game. In the past years, we came and just gave 100% every time but with these two, we try to step up our game."