Nauris Miezis scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds to help defending champion Latvia win 21-14 against Lithuania on Tuesday during the pool play of men’s 3×3 basketball at the Paris Olympics.
Miezis and Karlis Lasmanis, who were part of the Latvian team that won gold in Tokyo, returned along with new teammates Francis Lacis and Zigmars Raimo for the Paris Games.
“This is the Olympics, and you have to be mentally ready,” Miezis said. “This is the most important thing. We have two new players, and I hope they saw how it will go here.”
Latvia took a 12-4 lead with a dunk by Lacis and a basket from Lasmanis with about 5½ minutes left in the game.
Aurelijus Pukelis brought Lithuania closer with a minute remaining, cutting the lead to five. However, Miezis scored four of Latvia’s last five points to help secure the win.
Miezis appreciated the lively crowd after playing in empty arenas during the sport’s debut in Tokyo.
“It was an amazing crowd and atmosphere,” he said. “This is a quick game, and it pumps up your energy.”
Pukelis led Lithuania with eight points, and Evaldas Dziaugys had seven rebounds.
NETHERLANDS 21, CHINA 16
Worthy de Jong scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds to help the Netherlands win 21-16 against China.
The Netherlands went on a 5-0 run to lead 8-4 with about seven minutes left.
The Netherlands maintained a five-point lead after Dimeo van der Horst made a basket with about five minutes remaining. However, Wenbo Lu scored to bring China closer at 13-10 with 3½ minutes to go.
China got within 19-15 when Ning Zhang scored with less than a minute left. De Jong then made a dunk, and after China scored another dunk, he added another basket with 29 seconds remaining.
Zhang led China with seven points, and Jiaren Zhao added six.
