FIBA WC European Qualifiers: Latvia beats GB, Israel loses to Sweden
The second match of the FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers has ended. Let’s get to the results involving Washington Wizards players.
Porzingis leads Latvia to an 87-80 win over Great Britain
Kristaps Porzingis scored 29 points on 9-of-12 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Latvians to a second win on Sunday against Great Britain. Rihards Lomazs added 16 points off the bench, but shot just 3-of-12 from the field.
The Latvians never led by double digits and were tied 73-all with 5 minutes left, but scored four points in the final 1:28 of the game including a dunk that made it 85-80 with just 55 seconds left.
The Latvians now lead Group I with a 5-1 record. They are one game ahead of second-placed Greece.
Israel falls to a record below .500 after a 95-83 loss to Sweden
Deni Avdija scored 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting for the Israelis, but it was Yam Madar who led the way with 28 points in their home loss to Sweden.
The Swedes shot 57.8 percent for the game with Tobias Borg scoring 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 4-of-4 from the three-point line. They led by as many as 20 points during the contest early in the second half.
Israel is now 3-5 in Group J in qualifying, well behind Germany and Finland who have identical 7-1 records.