National Basketball Association

Gasol's 29 points lead Spain past Poland

Published Aug. 31, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

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

Serbia, which lost to Spain in the title match two years ago, shook off a slow start to beat Italy 80-68.

Montenegro scored the last five points in overtime to beat Macedonia 70-65, and Georgia routed Belgium 81-59 at the start of the 24-team tournament on Wednesday.

Gasol and his brother Marc, who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies, dominated inside for Spain. They tied for a game-high seven rebounds each and Marc also added 16 points.

Juan Carlos Navarro had 23 points for Spain.

But Ricky Rubio, the guard signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves, missed all five field-goal attempts in 16 minutes of play. He finished with two steals and two turnovers.

Italy's Andrea Bargnani, the Toronto Raptors center, led all scorers with 22 points and Danilo Gallinari of the Denver Nuggets added 15 in the loss.

Vladimir Dasic scored 20 points and had 16 rebounds to lead Montenegro over Macedonia. Bo McCalebb, a naturalized American, had 17 points for Macedonia. Georgia captain Zaza Pachulia, of the Atlanta Hawks, had 16 points against the overmatched Belgians.