Germany beat Angola 108-103 in triple overtime - the first game in FIBA World Championship history to go to three extra sessions - and Nowitzki's 47 points was the fifth-highest individual performance in the 56 years of the tournament.

"What am I going to say that you didn't see out there? That's competive greatness. He gives you your best when you need it most," German coach Dirk Bauermann said of the incredible performance by Nowitzki, who made 17-of-17 free throws and dished out four assists while playing top notch defense as well.

"Everything that happens in a game like this is fun," Nowitzki said. "In a long tournament like this you always need games that push the team. Hopefully this is one of them."

The record for points in a single game is held by Jae Hur of Korea, who scored 62 points at the 1990 FIBA World Championship.

Nowitzki buried a three-pointer to force the second overtime and then made two free throws to tie the game at 95-95 after two overtimes. The 7-footer then took over the third extra session, scoring 11 of Germany's 13 points.

The victory clinched second place in Group B for Germany, who finished the first round with a 4-1 record and will face Nigeria in the Final 16. Angola started the group with three straight victories and ended the round with a 3-2 record in third place.

Olimpio Cipriano paced the Africans with 33 points including six three-pointers and Eduardo Mingas added 22 points.

"Today we showed the whole world we have a lot to offer," said Joaquim Gomes, who 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. "Unfortunately we came up short in the end. We gave the effort, we showed the heart, we just came up short in the end."

New Zealand also booked their spot in the knock-out stages in Saitama with an 86-75 victory over Panama. The Tall Blacks' second straight victory clinched them fourth place in the group with a 2-3 record and a Round of 16 date with 2004 Olympic champions Argentina.

"Eveybody knows what a disrupted campaign we've had. We came to Hiroshima and we weren't in sync," New Zealand coach Tab Baldwin said. "But if we can pick up things from where they are now, we can make a real run at Argentina."

New Zealand used an 11-1 run in the third quarter to break open the game as Craig Bradshaw scored 17 points and Kirk Penney had 16 and Pero Cameron chipped in 14.

Michael Hicks scored 20 points to lead Panama.

In the Group B night-cap, Pau Gasol collected 21 points and 16 rebounds as Spain remained undefeated with a 104-55 thrashing of Japan.

The Spaniards were never challenged in the game, shooting 67 per cent in the first half on their way to their fifth victory in five matches. The Group B winners shot 59 per cent for the game and out-rebounded Japan 47-25.

Coach Pepu Hernandez used the game to work on a number of offensive and defensive schemes.

"We haven't had a lot of time to play. So we used this game to work on some passing games. Sometimes we ran them the right way, sometimes we didn't," Hernandez said.

Japan, who were playing a day after losing an 18-point half-time lead, were paced by 13 points from Takehiko Orimo while Daiji Yamada added 12 points.

In Saitama, Spain will play the two-time reigning world champions Serbia & Montenegro.