USA overwhelms Iran, France and Australia grab two wins in Olympic men's basketball

Damian Lillard (1st L) makes a high-five with Kevin Durant (C) of the United States during their preliminary basketball match against Iran at Tokyo 2020 on July 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Meng Yongmin)

The United States smashed Iran to claim its first preliminary victory in men's basketball at Tokyo 2020.

TOKYO, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States bounced back by smashing Iran 120-66 to earn its first preliminary victory in Tokyo Olympic men's basketball competition here on Wednesday after a debut loss to France.

The defending champions had their 25-game Olympic winning streak snapped with an 83-76 loss to France on Sunday.

Damian Lillard scored 21 points for Team USA against Iran. Devin Booker contributed 16 points and Jayson Tatum added 14. Hamed Haddadi finished with 14 points for Iran.

Team USA made 19 three-pointers compared with 9 from Iran.

"We play against superstars of the world and we just enjoy it. I just think about when you play against them, no injury, no nothing, just fair play and we play great and also they play great," said Iran's Saeid Davarpanah after the game.

Rudy Gobert (1st R) of France fights for the ball during the men's preliminary round match against the Czech Republic at Tokyo 2020 on July 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Meng Yongmin)

Another big win belonged to France, who trounced the Czech Republic 97-77. Evan Fournier scored 21 points for France. Nando de Colo added 17 points and eight assists. Vincent Poirier contributed 14 points.

France now enjoy a 2-0 start while the Czechs fell to 1-1 and will face Team USA on Saturday. Jan Vesely had 19 points for the Czech Republic. Ondrej Balvin added 18. Tomas Satoransky had 14 points and 10 assists.

Jock Landale scored 18 points as Australia cruised past Italy 86-83. Australia also moved to 2-0 in Group B standings, while Italy fell to 1-1.

Patty Mills had 16 points and five assists. Simone Fontecchio led Italy with 22 points, followed by Nico Mannion with 21 points and seven assists. Achille Polonara added 12.

"We're very happy to have two wins. But I think we all feel there's still room for improvement," said Australia's Matthew Dellavedova.

Germany pulled away in the final quarter to defeat Nigeria 99-92.

Both teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 74 before Germany took a 14-0 run in the final minutes to seal the deal.

Johnannes Voigtmann scored 19 points. Moritz Wagner added 17 points, while Danilo Barthel had 14 for Germany. Jordan Nwora scored 33 points for Nigeria. Miye Oni finished with 15.