PARIS — Chase Budinger has never forgotten how poorly he played in his first NBA game. He'll have only fond memories of his Olympic debut.
Former Arizona professional basketball player Miles Evans and his partner defeated host France in straight sets on Monday to easily advance in their opening match of the Paris beach volleyball tournament.
“I really tried to use my experience in basketball, playing in front of big crowds, to stay calm the whole time,” Budinger said after a 21-14, 21-11 win. “But it definitely wasn't like that on the court.”
Budinger spent seven years in the NBA, mostly as a backup for the Rockets and Timberwolves, before switching to beach volleyball to fulfill his Olympic dream. In his first NBA game, he still remembers, “I played horribly.”
“On the bus ride here, I was telling Miles about my first basketball game, how nervous I was and how the nerves really got to me,” Budinger said. “I was 0-for-2. [from 3-point range]”I had two turnovers and one of my shots was a ball out of play. So the nerves affected my game.”
On Monday at the Eiffel Tower Stadium, he was not nervous, even against a French team that had won its last three matches on the international tour.
“It took me six years. It took me a long time to finally achieve this goal and here I am competing at the Olympics,” Budinger said. “And there is no better feeling.”
Budinger and Evans scored the first three points and never trailed in the first set. In the second, France built a 3-1 lead before the Americans won the next three points and wrapped up the match in just 32 minutes.
“It's one of the best starts we could ever imagine,” Evans said. “I had all these negative scenarios in mind before this game. I'm very thankful that we were able to overcome them.”
Unlike his NBA debut against the Portland Trail Blazers in 2009, Budinger said, “I felt like here, I was able to get a couple points early. That helped relieve some of the stress, the nerves, and allowed me to play better without it affecting me as much.”
In other notable beach action Monday, Americans Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth beat Tokyo silver medalist Taliqua Clancy of Australia and her new partner, Mariafe Artacho del Solar, in straight sets to improve to 2-0 in Paris.
France swept Rio gold medalist Laura Ludwig of Germany and her new partner Louisa Lippmann. Qatar, the men's bronze medalist in Tokyo, beat No. 1-ranked Sweden 2-1 and is now 2-0 in the group stage.
