Victor Wembanyama of France celebrates after scoring during men's basketball group B match between France and Brazil at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Pierre Mauroy Stadium at Lille, France, on July 27, 2024. (Xinhua/Meng Dingbo)
LILLE, France, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Victor Wembanyama and Nicolas Batum scored 19 points each to lead hosts France to a 78-66 win over Brazil to kick off their Paris Olympic campaign here on Saturday.
Trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half, France turned the tide in the second quarter and never looked back.
Brazil started the match with a quick 12-5 lead and extended it to 27-15 in the second quarter when France tried to find their pace.
France managed to tie the game on 36-36 with a 21-9 run and took the lead before the break that they kept to the end, when Wembanyama also had nine rebounds and three blocks for the victory.
Both Cristiano Felicio and Leo Meindl had 14 points for Brazil.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's layup with 42 seconds to left on the clock pulled Canada away for good, beating Greece 86-79.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds in the victory, killed Greece's last hopes, after they had closed within two points at 80-78 thanks to Giannis Antetokounmpo's dunk with 1:04 to go.
Canada had a four-point lead and time was running down as Greece had to take fouls to send the Canadians onto the free-throw line in vain.
RJ Barrett led Canada with 23 points, while Antetokounmpo had a game-high 34 points for Greece.
Five players scored in double digits when Australia won the men's basketball opener against Spain 92-80. Jock Landale had 20 points and nine rebounds, while Josh Giddey contributed 17 points and eight rebounds, and Patty Mills added 19 points.
Santi Aldama led Spain with a game-high 27 points, but Spain lost out on rebounds 46-32 and shot only 12 from 37 from behind the arc, while Australia were 12 from 24 from three-point range.
World champions Germany had no trouble to beat Japan 97-77 when Dennis Schroder heralded the team with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
Franz Wagner had a game-high 22 points for Germany, which led from the very beginning of the match and built up the gap in every quarter for an easy win.
Rui Hachimura led Japan with 20 points and 10 rebounds. ■
