Just like in the oppening game, France needed both to tighten up their defense and get lots of points by NBA superstar Tony Parker in order to beat Latvia in a low scoring game.
Against Germany, Parker scored the final 11 points of France to win the game. The same he did against Latvia scoring the last 10 points of his team to a total of 23. France was down by 10 early in the third quarter before pulling an 18-4 run that gave them a 4-point lead to enter the last period (37-41). France reached their second win after outscoring the Latvians 19-14 in the fourth quarter. The final score was 60-51.
LATVIA 51-60 FRANCE
Latvia: Helmanis, Vitols, Skele 4, Blums 7, Kalve, Valters 3, Jahovics, Kambala 18, Freimanis, Stalbergs 1, Janicenoks 12, Biedrins 6
France: Diot, Batum 7, Jeanneau, Koffi, Mahinmi, Parker 23, Bokolo 1, Pietrus 2, De Colo 9, Diaw 6, Turiaf, Traore 12
Game quotes:
Kestutis Kemzura (Latvia head coach): "Despite the fact, that yesterday we lost to Russia, today we came back and we fight. We made a lot of mistakes on our defence in the second half. I am really proud of my guys. I think, France looked like a medalist."
Kristaps Janicenosk: "We made too many mistakes in defence in third quarter. Now we are under pressure, but we are ready for the next game. Tomorrows game against Germany will be the most important game for us. We will try to win."
Vincent Collet (France head coach): "Today's game was a very big fight. We didn't give up during all match. We did a good job on offense. De Colo had a day, he shot well from three-points in important moments."
Nicolas Batum: "All game we were agressive and we focused on defence. We shot the ball pretty well. It was a difficult game for us, because in the beginning we did not score, as the ball did not want to go in. We had pressure to win the game – from ourselves, from fans. It helped us and I think it will help us to win our game tomorrow."
