After a topsy-turvy first couple of days in 3x3 basketball at the Paris Olympics, Day 3 promises to bring a little clarity: Each team in the men's and women's field is set to play twice on Thursday across four sessions, which should help separate the contenders from the pretenders. Will the U.S. men and women finally pick up a win? Will the Latvian men keep on rolling? Will anyone separate on the women's side?
Here's a look at the action from Place de La Concorde on Thursday.
Team USA
The Americans entered the day looking to secure their first wins of the tournament.
On the women's side, the U.S. opened up with a 17-15 defeat to Australia, then recovered later in the day to beat Spain by six points, 17-11.
Women: United States 17, Spain 11
With LeBron James in attendance, the U.S. went to work early against Spain, building a 6-2 lead for its best start of the tournament. The Spaniards narrowed the lead to one about midway before the Americans pulled away, ignited by a great drive from Hailey van Lith who drew the and-one to put the U.S. up 10-6.
Van Lith and Rhyne Howard both had five points and a two-pointer each.
Women: Australia 17, United States 15
Against Australia, the women saw a lot of back-and-forth action for much of the contest. Howard drained a nice two to bring the Americans within one with five minutes remaining, but Australia made key plays down the stretch. Howard led the Americans with eight points in the contest.
Frustration clearly set in for the United States, which had 14 turnovers against the Aussies. The game was kept closer than it should’ve been by Australia’s low shooting efficiency, just 0.57. Van Lith’s struggles up to that point continued as she only scored two points in the game while committing four turnovers.
The defending gold medalists face France and Canada on Friday.
Men: Lithuania 20, United States 18
The U.S. men also dropped their first of two games on Thursday.
Playing without Jimmer Fredette due to a groin injury, Team USA showed admirable fight, maintaining a narrow lead for much of the game. Kareem Maddox and Canyon Barry picked up much of the slack, combining for 14 points on 12-of-16 from the field and using their athletic advantage to get to the rim consistently.
But without any substitutions, the U.S. eventually ran out of gas. The inflection point came with just over a minute left, when Lithuania hit consecutive two-pointers to turn a one-point deficit into a three-point lead it wouldn't relinquish. A late American rally gave them one last chance to tie the game, but Barry's 3 at the buzzer fell short.
The U.S. now sits in last place in the men's pool at 0-3 and will look to finally get its first win in Paris later Thursday against defending gold medalists Latvia.
Men: Latvia 21, United States 19
Sometimes when it rains, it pours.
Down Jimmer Fredette, after an 0-3 start, facing the reigning gold medalists, the U.S. men's team still came out swinging. Dylan Travis and Canyon Barry poured in 16 points and knocked down 7-of-13 from two-point range, building a 19-15 lead to put them on the verge of the upset of the tournament.
And then it all fell apart. Nauris Miezis hit consecutive twos, then Karlis Lasmanis scored consecutive buckets as the U.S. missed several agonizing looks around the basket.
Fredette's status is unclear for Friday, but the U.S. does still have two more games to try and dig out of the bottom two and qualify for play-in games this weekend.
Notable women's pool-play games
Germany 19, Canada 15
Canada got off to the most impressive start of any team in the women's tournament, but it dropped from the unbeaten ranks early on Thursday as it fell to Germany.
Elisa Mevius broke a 10-10 tie to give Germany an advantage it would never relinquish. Mevius had 7 points while Sonja Greinacher led the team with 8.
Twin sisters Michelle and Katherine Plouffe each had 5 points for Canada.
Germany and Canada are now both 2-1 in pool play, the same as Australia, which won earlier in the morning. Spain, which plays later in the day, remains the lone undefeated team on the women's side.
China 14, Spain 11
Down goes the last remaining unbeaten team in the women's tournament, as China bounced back from a morning loss to Australia with an upset win over Spain.
Spain simply could not catch a rhythm on offense; Juana Camilion scored seven of the team's 11 points, but her teammates combined to shoot just 6-of-26 from the floor, with star Vega Gimeno going just 1-for-7 overall and 0-for-4 from two-point range.
Consecutive twos for China provided some breathing room at 11-7, and despite a 7-0 offensive rebounding advantage, Spain couldn't find ways to put the ball in the basket consistently enough to catch up.
Canada 13, France 9
Canada shrugged off the earlier loss to Germany with a 13-9 win over Tokyo bronze medalist France, preventing the host nation from scoring for the first three minutes of the game.
The Plouffe twins combined for 11 boards and seven points. Katherine, the world's No. 1-ranked player, also shot perfect from inside the arc.
Notable men's pool-play games
Serbia 21, Netherlands 19
Strahinja Stojacic hit an off-balance 2-pointer with time running out to give Serbia a 21-19 win over the Netherlands.
With Serbia leading, 19-17, Dejan Majstorovic missed a bunny layup to go up 3. The Netherlands then scored on back-to-back possessions to even up the game with 8 seconds to play.
Stojacic scored only 3 points in the game but he hit the shot that mattered most, falling backwards from right-center of the key. Marko Brankovic led Serbia with 9 points.
Serbia moved to 2-1 in pool play while the Netherlands, which was led by Worthy de Jong's and Dimeo van der Horst's 8 points each, dropped to 1-2.
Latvia 22, China 8
Latvia scored the first 7 points of the game and cruised to a 14-point victory over China, 22-8.
Francis Lacis had 8 points and the rest of team scored at least 4 points each as Latvia remained unbeaten in pool play. Zhang Ning had 6 of China's 8 points.
China dropped to 1-2.
Netherlands 20, France 13
France entered the game undefeated after two nail-biting wins over the first two days of competition, while the Netherlands looked to secure its second win of pool play.
Halfway through the contest, Arvin Slagter drove to the net, recovered his own rebound, and drained the jumper for a 7-6 lead. The Netherlands would never relinquish it. With just over three minutes to play, Dimeo van der Horst put in a one-point shot for a four-point run and a 13-8 lead that put the game away, while France’s increasingly desperate outside shooting produced just a 2-for-17 mark from 2-point range.
Other results
Women's pool play
Morning session 1:
Australia 21, China 15
Morning session 2:
France 15, Azerbaijan 10
Afternoon session 1:
Germany 12, Azerbaijan 8
Men's pool play
Morning session 2:
Lithuania 21, Poland 12
Afternoon session 1:
Poland 22, China 17
Afternoon session 2:
Serbia 19, France 16