By KRISTIE RIEKEN
PARIS (AP) — Nauris Miezis had nine points and four rebounds to lead defending champion Latvia to a 21-14 win over Lithuania on Tuesday in pool play of men’s 3×3 basketball at the Paris Olympics.
Miezis and Karlis Lasmanis returned from the Latvian team which won gold in Tokyo, and they added 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 opened a 12-4 lead on a dunk by Lacis followed by a basket from Lasmanis with about 5½ minutes to go.
Aurelijus Pukelis got Lithuania within five with a minute remaining. But Miezis scored four of Latvia’s last five points to help close it out.
Miezis enjoyed the fans after playing in empty arenas when the sport debuted 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 had nine points and grabbed four rebounds, helping the Netherlands to the victory.
Netherlands used a 5-0 spurt to take an 8-4 lead with about seven minutes left.
The Netherlands was up by five after a basket by Dimeo van der Horst with about five minutes to go. But Wenbo Lu scored to get China within 13-10 with 3½ minutes left.
China closed to 19-15 on a basket by Ning Zhang with under a minute remaining. De Jong answered with a dunk and, after a dunk by China, he added another bucket with 29 seconds to go.
Zhang scored seven points for China and Jiaren Zhao had six.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
