SIAULIAI, Lithuania -- NBA stars made the difference on the opening day of the European Championship, leading their nations to victories in what is also a qualifying tournament for next year's London Olympics.
Pau Gasol, the Los Angeles Lakers centre, had 29 points to help defending champion Spain stave off a late comeback and defeat Poland 83-78.
Tony Parker had 31 points in 38 minutes to lead France past Latvia 89-78, while Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 in 27 minutes and Chris Kaman added 18 points and 10 rebounds in Germany's 91-64 defeat of Israel.
"It's always good to win the first game. Obviously I won't play 38 minutes in every game," said Parker, the San Antonio Spurs guard who also had seven assists. "The whole team has to play good if we want to do something at this competition."
Four other French players scored in double figures.
Janis Blums led all scorers with 32 for Latvia, which kept the Group B game close until the fourth quarter. Blums hit six of nine 3-pointers but got little help.
Boris Diaw had 14 for France, Mikael Gelabale added 11 while Joakim Noah and Nicolas Batum had 10 each.
Blums' free throw left Latvia trailing by two with 4:30 remaining, but Nicolas Batum's 3-pointer and another by Gelabale restored a safe cushion for France.
"We just have to take it one game at a time. The games go on very fast. It's on us to just stay focused and realize that we are playing against a team that can definitely beat us," said Noah, the Chicago Bulls centre.
With the NBA mired in a lockout, many stars have returned to Europe to help their nations try to clinch slots at next year's Olympics. The two finalists qualify directly, while the next four finishers earn slots at another qualifying tournament.
Nowitzki, the MVP of the NBA finals against the Miami Heat, and Kaman dominated a smaller Israeli team.
"We played well together, it was super for the first game," Nowitzki said. "If we play like this, we can achieve something."
In one game in which NBA players did not tip the balance, Serbia overcame a slow start to beat Italy 80-68.
Guards Milos Teodosic and Milenko Tepic scored 15 points for Serbia and Milan Macvan added 14 off the bench to go with eight rebounds.
Italy's Andrea Bargnani, the Toronto Raptors centre, led all scorers with 22 points and Danilo Gallinari of the Denver Nuggets added 15.
Serbia did not lead until late in the second quarter but then pulled away and was up by 18 before Italy came within four. The Serbs rallied and did not let the game slip away.
"I told my players that this the game we have to win, because we have tough matches upcoming," Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic said. "We went hot and cold and we relaxed too much when we had a bid lead. It was a team performance. We don't have a real starting five and our bench was ready to come in and contribute."
Serbia is in the same Group B with France and Germany. Only the top three teams advance from each of the four groups in the 24-team tournament.
Spain, which beat Serbia in the title match two years ago, had a rocky start, although Gasol and his brother Marc, who also plays in the NBA for the Memphis Grizzlies, dominated inside. They tied for a game-high seven rebounds each and Marc also had 16 points.
Juan Carlos Navarro added 23 points for Spain.
But Ricky Rubio, the guard signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves, missed all of his five field-goal attempts in 16 minutes of play, with two steals and two turnovers.
Luol Deng's double-double was not enough for Britain to upset host Lithuania. The Chicago Bulls forward led all scorers with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
Lithuania led by 10 at halftime but scored only four points and produced nine turnovers through eight minutes of the third, giving Britain a 55-54 lead.
The hosts revived their shooting touch with a 26-12 fourth quarter.
In other matches, Montenegro beat Macedonia 70-65 in overtime, Georgia routed Belgium 81-59, Greece beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 76-67, Slovenia defeated Bulgaria 76-67, Turkey swept past Portugal 79-56, Russia beat Ukraine 73-64, Croatia edged Finland 84-79.
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