Chaos continues to reign through two days of Olympic 3x3 basketball. Reigning men's gold medalist Latvia notched another win, but other than that, things got weird: The U.S. women fell again, the top-ranked Serbian men got knocked off by China and the Australian women bounced back from an ugly opener to knock off a German team fresh off an upset of Team USA.
Here's a look at the action from Place de La Concorde on Wednesday.
Team USA
Women: Azerbaijan 20, U.S. 17
The reigning gold medalists now find themselves in an 0-2 hole after Tiffany Hayes' layup with six seconds left sent the U.S. women to their second straight loss in Paris.
This was a nip and tuck game throughout; no team led by more than three, and there were seven ties and six lead changes. It looked as though Team USA had swung the game with just over two minutes remaining, when Dearica Hamby scored three straight buckets including an and-one to give the U.S. a 15-13 lead.
But Hayes, who won two national championships with UConn in 2009 and 2010, would not be denied. She paced Azerbaijan throughout, leading all players with 11 points and seven rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, and she took things over late. Two consecutive baskets tied the game up again, and then a Hayes block set up the go-ahead free throws by Dina Ulyanova.
Two quick scores by Hamby tied things up again with under a minute to play, but the U.S. would come up empty on its next three possessions — including a turnover with 11 seconds left that gave the ball back to Azerbaijan with the shot clock off and a chance to win the game. Hayes took it from there, driving for an all-too-easy layup to give Azerbaijan its first-ever Olympic 3x3 win.
Hamby and Cierra Burdick were sensational for Team USA, combining for 11 points on 9-of-14 shooting. But Hailey Van Lith struggled both offensively (2-of-7) and defensively for the second straight game, and far too many U.S. possessions looked disjointed until someone was forced to hoist up a contested look late in the shot clock.
The U.S. certainly isn't doomed; there are still five pool games to go, after all, and plenty of the talent that won last year's World Cup. But drastic changes will need to be made if this team wants to even reach the medal rounds.
Men: Poland 19, U.S. 17
Team USA's rough start to the 3x3 competition continued on the men's side, as the U.S. hung tough but ultimately fell to Poland to drop to 0-2.
The Americans trailed throughout, falling into an early 7-2 hole and never recovering. It was a second straight cold shooting performance, including a dismal 2-of-15 from two-point range — and an 0-for-4 mark from Jimmer Fredette, short-circuiting the team's primary source of offense.
The U.S. did battle, largely thanks to Canyon Barry and Dylan Travis, who each finished with six points and scored nine of the team's final 10 overall. Fredette's bucket with just under 90 seconds to play cut Poland's lead to 18-17, and a turnover on the ensuing possession gave Team USA the chance to tie or even take an improbable lead.
But what followed was the story of the game in microcosm: Fredette missed a two-pointer, and a Poland offensive rebound — the U.S. allowed six offensive rebounds and a 20-9 deficit on the boards overall — led to the game-sealing free throw from Michal Sokolowski. Fredette would get one more desperation chance to tie before time expired, but that too came up short.
Like the women, the U.S. men still have time to dig out of this hole and recapture the form that brought it silver at last year's World Cup. But time is running out, and Thursday's matchups against Latvia and Lithuania will be challenging.
Other women's pool-play games
Australia 21, Germany 19
The topsy-turvy women's tournament continued on day two, as Germany — fresh off a convincing upset of the U.S. on Wednesday — turned around and lost to an Australia side that got blasted by Canada in its first game.
The Aussies were the far more physical side from the jump, racking up significant advantages in offensive rebounding (10 to 3) and free throws attempts (8 to 2) that proved decisive.
Australia led for most of the game, but big shot-making from Sonja Greinacher (9 points) evened things up at 19 with under a minute to play. That's when Alex Wilson went for the jugular: On the very next possession, she pulled up for two and drained a walk-off two-pointer.
Wilson and Marena Whittle did almost all of the damage for Australia, scoring 17 of the team's 21 points and grabbing six offensive rebounds.
Canada 21, China 11
In a women's field that seems wide-open right now, perhaps a new favorite has emerged: Canada became the first 2-0 team on the women's side, following a 22-14 win over Australia on Wednesday with an even more impressive blowout of China on Thursday.
Perhaps more than any other team in the tournament, Canada lives and dies behind the two-point line: It made X of a whopping X two-pointers in this one, getting fouled on two more that produced four points from the free-throw line. The 3x3 math makes those shots even more valuable, and it's certainly worked out for hte Canadians so far.
Paige Crozon led the way with three two-pointers on seven attempts, as she and Michelle Plouffe put up seven points apiece. Canada also held China to just 6-of-19 from the field, playing the sort of switchable and high-energy defense that 3x3 spacing requires.
Mingling Chen was the high scorer with five points for China, which falls to 1-1 after edging France in its opener.
Spain 17, France 12
Spain moved to 2-0 in a tough, defensive battle with host nation France. This was a tight game for most of it, with Spain leading just 11-10 with under two minutes left, but Vega Gimeno scored the next four points to salt things away.
Sandra Ygueravide led all scorers with nine points on 5-of-9 shooting, while Spain's defense held France to just 7-of-24 from the field with two free throws.
Other men's pool-play games
Latvia 21, Netherlands 11
Latvia has gotten its gold-medal defense off to a rollicking start, moving to 2-0 in Paris with a convincing win over the Netherlands.
The Latvians got off to an uncharacteristically cold shooting start, while Netherlands star Worthy de Jong poured in six early points to help the underdogs keep pace early. Eventually, though, the Dutch offense sputtered out, and Latvia finally caught fire. The result? An 11-3 run to end the game, with Karlis Lasmanis and Nauris Miezis hitting four two-pointers in about two minutes of game time.
Lasmanis led all scorers with 8 points, while Miezis and Francis Lacis chipped in 5 each. de Jong cooled off after his hot start, finishing with 7 points on the day on just 5-of-15 shooting and a 1-of-9 mark from deep.
China 21, Serbia 15
Another upset, and two more teams added to the 1-1 logjam developing so far in pool play.
These teams appeared headed in opposite directions after their respective openers: Serbia, ranked No. 1 in the world, had beaten the U.S. handily, while China fell to the Netherlands by five. And yet it was the Chinese who asserted themselves, ripping off an 11-2 run that included four two-pointers and seven points from Ning Zhang.
Serbia tried to rally, cutting China's lead to 19-15, but a crucial foul on a Jiaren Zhao two-point shot cut short the momentum and set up the game-winning free throws. Serbia shot poorly from outside (4-of-13), but more concerning was its defensive effort, allowing China to shoot 13-of-20 from the field.
France 21, Lithuania 20
Timothe Vergiat hit the game-winning floater with 3.4 seconds remaining in regulation as France turned what seemed to be a sure win into an absolutely wild finish. Two free throws from Lucas Dussoulier put Les Bleus up 20-15 and just one score away from a 2-0 start in Paris. But Lithuania rallied with five straight scores to tie things up, and even had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds.
But Gintautus Matulis threw the ball out of bounds, giving the ball back to France with 12.2 seconds to go and setting up Vergiot's heroics. Vergiat and Jules Rambaut combined for 17 of France's 21 points, while Aurelijus Pukelis and Evaldas Dziaugys led Lithuania with seven apiece.