Latvia's basketball team bounces back with home win over Israel after Croatia loss

Latvia's national basketball team delivered a convincing win in Riga on Sunday, defeating Israel 85:70 in a World Cup qualifying match. The result came as a response to a heavy loss suffered against Croatia the previous Thursday.

The standout performer of the game was Artūrs Strautiņš, who produced the best performance of his national team career, scoring 29 points while converting six of nine three-point attempts.

Group standings

With this win, Latvia now has four victories in eight games and sits in fourth place in its qualifying group. However, all three teams currently ahead of Latvia in the standings have already secured seven wins each, leaving a significant gap between Latvia and the top three.

While a mathematical chance to reach the 2027 World Cup finals technically remains, the gap to the leading teams means those chances are now largely theoretical rather than realistic.