GDANSK, Poland — For the second night in a row, it was again NBA star Tony Parker who proved to be the hero for France, scoring France’s final 10 points after scoring 11 the night before, proving that Latvia had not learned from Germany’s misfortune.
Parker’s input was ultimately the difference between the two teams with France eventually coming out victors 60-51 in an unusually low-scoring match.
Latvia started the better of the two teams taking a 6-2 lead half-way through the first quarter. However France came back to score a quick five points in the final minute to lead 13-8 going into the second.
Astonishingly, it took 4 minutes 17 seconds for a basket to be scored in the second-quarter with shot after shot going astray at both ends of the court. When the scoring did begin it was the Latvians who scored five unanswered points to take back the lead 14-13.
The Latvians held the French to just three points for the quarter to be leading 21-16 going into the break. Up until this point, they had done a good job containing Parker, holding him to just two points for the half.
The Latvians managed to maintain their lead for most of the third-quarter, with the widening to 10 points at times. However, with just under half the quarter left, the French rallied and the Latvian defence began to falter as the French went on an 18-4 scoring spree lead by Parker and Nando De Colo to take a four-point advantage (41-37) into the final quarter.
In the final quarter the Latvians pulled the score back early to see the ball game tied at 43 apiece, at which stage Parker stepped up to take ownership of the game. The Latvians had no answer for the speed of the Frenchman who easily beat his opponent one-on-one on a number of occasions to take the game out of the Latvian’s reach.
Once again Kaspers Kambala was the Latvian hero top-scoring for the team with 18 points. Kristaps Janičenoks was the only other player to make it into double figures on the night for Latvians adding 12. Defensively, the Latvians had a much stronger night from NBA star Andris Biedriņš, with the big man pulling down a game-high 20 rebounds.
Ultimately though, it was the Tony Parker show, as he ended the night with 23 points. The influence this man has on the French team cannot be underestimated, when considering the four other French starting players managed just 15 points between them.
Like the Lithuanians, the Latvians also go into tonight’s game against Germany in a do-or-die scenario. Germany are currently tied in second-place in the pool with Russia, after beating them 76-73 last night. Assuming that France beats Russia tonight and if Latvia can get up over Germany then all three teams will sit tied on four points. The team with the worst goal average will then be sent packing whilst the other tow teams will join France in the next round.
