Fredette & Co. drop opening Olympics 3×3 tilt
PARIS — The U.S. men’s debut in Olympic 3×3 basketball at the Paris Games was one to forget.
The Americans fell to Serbia 22-14 on Tuesday night in their opening game of these Olympics after failing to qualify for the Tokyo Games.
Marko Brankovic had eight points and Strahinja Stojacic added seven, including a 2-pointer that ended it with 2:34 remaining, to lead Serbia, the bronze medal finisher in Tokyo.
The U.S. brought in former NBA player Jimmer Fredette after not qualifying for the last Olympics. But he managed just four points in the rout.
Kareem Maddox made a 2-pointer with about three minutes remaining to cut the lead to 18-14. Dejan Majstorovic then made a 2-point shot before Dylan Travis missed for the U.S. to set up Stojacic’s game winner.
Serbia didn’t miss a 1-point shot, making all 12 attempts, while the U.S. made just 10 of 16 of those opportunities, including a miss by Fredette on a wide-open layup.
Maddox had six points to lead the United States. Canyon Barry, who works as a scientist for a defense contractor, added two points and a rebound. He is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Barry.
Neither team talked to reporters after the game because of the threat of severe storms that were expected in the area.
Lucas Dussoulier scored nine points, including the game-winning 2-pointer, to lead France over Poland.
Adrian Bogucki scored a basket with 1:48 remaining to tie it at 19-all before Dussoulier missed a 2-pointer. But Franck Seguela grabbed the offensive rebound and dished it to Dussoulier, who made the shot to end it.
Przemysław Zamojski and Bogucki had six points each to lead Poland.
Miezis and Karlis Lasmanis returned from the Latvian team that won gold in Tokyo, and it 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.
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.
