It's Labor Day in the United States, but just another Monday in Europe. Groups A and D continued their games, which meant that both Poland and Czech Republic were playing. The teams in Groups B and D will play tomorrow, since they were off today.
Let's see how the good guys fared and go from there.
Poland loses to France, 69-66
Marcin Gortat scored 10 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and dished two assists in the close. Even though the French never led by more than nine points at any point during the game, they still had the upper hand most of the time. Tony Parker also scored 16 points for the French and became the all-time leading scorer in EuroBasket history.
We'll have more from Bartek soon. Poland's next game is against Israel on Wednesday.
Czech Republic also loses to Latvia, 72-65
Tomas Satoransky led the Czechs with 22 points and dished 9 assists. Jan Vesely added 17 more points and 11 rebounds. Though that would usually spell an easy Czech blowout win, it wasn't the case thanks to some poor free throw shooting as the Czechs only shot 11 of 24 from the stripe.
Highlights of the game are embedded above. The Czech Republic's next game is against Belgium on Wednesday.
Other Group A Games
Finland beats Russia, 81-79 - This was a close game from start to finish, but Petteri Kopponen scored the winning field goal with 3 seconds left to give the Finnish their first victory in group play. The Russians are in big trouble now and are 0-3 in group play.
Bosnia and Herzegovina edges out Israel in overtime, 86-84 - The Israelis squandered a 16 point lead in the game and allowed the Bosnians to score 20 second chance points in their first loss in group play. It also spoiled another excellent performance by Omri Casspi who dropped 29 points on 12 of 20 shooting.
Bosnia and Herzegovina now has a much needed win in order to keep their hopes of a knockout round berth alive.
Other Group D Games
Belgium beats Lithuania on a buzzer beater, 76-74 - The Lithuanians started strong and Jonas Valanciunas had a dominant game where he scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. They even dominated the rebounding game (36-22) AND the free throw line, where they made 19 of 22 shots. The Belgians only attempted five all game.
However, in upset games, the three-point shot is the equalizer. The Lions shot 11 of 26 from deep and Matt Lojeski did this in the last seconds:
Belgium shock Lithuania on an amazing finish at the final buzzer at #EuroBasket2015 https://t.co/3FjtQ1YXiU
— David Hein (@heinnews) September 7, 2015
After a long wait, it was ruled that the basket was good, and Belgium had its biggest win in team history, given that they're 51st in the world, while Lithuania came into EuroBasket 4th in the rankings.
Estonia defeats Ukraine, 78-71 - The Estonians got their first win in this game thanks to a 22-6 third quarter which proved to be the difference in the game. Gregor Arbet led all scorers with 26 points for the Estonians, which included five made three-pointers.