"Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol scored 29 points to help defending champion Spain beat Poland 83-78 Wednesday in its opening match at the European Championship.

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker had 31 points to help France beat Latvia 89-78, and Serbia, which lost to Spain in the title match two years ago, shook off a slow start to beat Italy 80-68.

The Atlanta Hawks' Zaza Pachulia scored 16 points in Georgia's 81-59 rout of Belgium, and Montenegro scored the last five points in overtime to beat Macedonia 70-65 at the start of the 24-team tournament.

In other games, Greece beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 76-67, Slovenia defeated Bulgaria 76-67 despite a late collapse and Turkey swept past Portugal 79-56."