Defending Olympic basketball champions Argentina stumbled to a 79-75 loss to Lithuania yesterday, despite 19 points from Manu Ginobli.
In what had been a tight game, the San Antonio Spurs shooting guard and the rest of the Argentines were nearly shut down in the third quarter as Lithuania ran to a 51-45 lead.
Ginobli and Houston Rockets forward Luis Scola were restricted to just two points each in the period.
PHOTO: AFP
Argentina rallied and, with 2 minutes, 40 seconds left, Ginobli hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to four points. Quickly regaining possession, Ginobli bounced a three-pointer off the rim that was buried by Toronto Raptors guard Carlos Delfino to make it a two-point game. Then, with less than 90 seconds left, his pass connected with Scola inside the paint for the layup to even the score.
But with 2.1 seconds left in regulation, Linas Kleiza nailed a three-pointer and captain Ramunas Siskauskas drilled a free throw to pull off the four-point win, setting off celebrations among the raucous flag-waving Lithuanian supporters.
Kleiza led the scoring for Lithuania, who finished fourth at the 2004 Athens Games, with 13 points. Robertas Javtokas, a 2001 Spurs second round draft pick, added 12 points.
Delfino scored 13 points for Argentina and Scola had 10.
In the opening game, US-born Dzhon-Robert Kholden scored a game-high 19 points to lead European champions Russia to a 71-49 win over Iran, while Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki scored 23 points on 78 percent shooting as Germany overwhelmed Olympic rookies Angola 95-66.
Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kaman, who received his German citizenship only last month, was sharper still, shooting 83 percent to lead Germany with 24 points.
Spain downed Greece 81-66 with Portland Trailblazers signee Rudy Fernandez scoring a game-high 16 points and Los Angeles Lakers’ center Pau Gasol adding 11.
The gap belied what was a closely matched-game, with the result largely determined by free throws — Greece shot 11 of 24, Spain missed only three out of 25.
“We played an intense game,” Gasol said.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the