HIROSHIMA -- Here's the first Best & Worst entry from the FIBA World Championship's Group B. This entry highlights Saturday's group-opening contest between Japan and Germany, as well as the Angola-Panama showdown

BEST PERFORMANCE: Dirk Nowitzki. The German lived up to his superstar label, scoring 27 points, including 15 in the first quarter.

BEST SHOWCASE OF TEAMWORK: Angola had four players in double figures after the third quarter against Panama. Carlos Almeida led the way with 18, Miguel Lutonda (15), Olimpic Cipriano (12) and Eduardo Mingas (10) also reached double digits in giving Angola a 67-50 lead.

BEST STATISTIC: Japan and Germany combined for 19 turnovers in their game. This game lacked sloppy ball handling. What it had was this: an offensive flow, good passing and good teamwork. James Naismith, the game's inventor in the 1800s, and Magic Johnson, the consummate teammate, would be equally proud of both teams.

BEST ADVICE: "Looking at tomorrow, we'd like to begin in a better condition," Japanese shooting guard Takehiko Orimo said, noting the team's slow start was a problem Saturday.

BEST SLOGAN: German coach Dirk Bauermann put into simple words his approach to this tournament: "One day (and) one game after another." The coach said his team began preparing for Sunday's game against New Zealand at 4 p.m., or just a few minutes after its game against Japan.

WORST STATISTIC, PART I: Japan had 24 rebounds. Coach Zeljko Pavlicevic will need someone on his squad to haul in more than four boards Sunday against Angola. Kosuke Takeuchi, Daiji Yamada and Ryota Sakurai each had four in the loss.

WORST STATISTIC, PART II: Japan only grabbed three boards off the offensive glass, one apiece by three individuals.

LOOKING AHEAD

HIROSHIMA -- Angola coach Albert Carvalho, whose team defeated Panama 83-70 Saturday, said the West African nation faces a challenging foe in Japan on Sunday in their FIBA World Championship Group B matchup at the Hiroshima Prefectural Sports Center.

"It's a very difficult game," the coach said. "They are a very quick team. They have a very good coach. He knows what they must do to win games."

Angola's hard-nosed performance was an encouraging sign for Carvalho, a performance he'd like to see replicated.

"We must fight and play very well on defense," he said.

After watching the Japan-Germany game, Carvalho said Japan's youthful exuberance served it well in the team's Group B opener against Germany.

"They proved they can do more," Carvalho told reporters.

He added: "They are a very young team, but they fight and believe."

Case in point: Japan point guard Kei Igarashi scored 13 points in 12:07 and attacked the basket with regularity, going 6-for-7 from the charity stripe and 3-for-4 from the field for good measure.

Angola guard Carlos Almeida said his team cannot expect anything less than a tough game from Japan.

A win Sunday would give Angola a 2-0 record in Group B and put it in the driver's seat for a spot in the final 16 in Saitama.

"We (want) to get through to the next stage. That's the point," Almeida said.

NO REST FOR THE WEARY

The Panama National Team arrived in Japan on Friday. Naturally, it was tough for the players and staff to get acclimated to the time difference in only one day.

Panama coach Guillermo Vecchio admitted as much after his team's loss to Angola. But he said it'd be too easy to use that as an excuse and he won't make any excuses.

The team just needs to play better against Spain on Sunday night, Vecchio said.

Even if he was exhausted after the game, Vecchio's humor remained intact.

"I hope Spain (that) they can't sleep tonight," the coach joked.