American Chase Budinger celebrates a point against France during a beach volleyball match at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

PARIS — Chase Budinger never forgot how poorly he played in his first NBA game. He will have only fond memories of his Olympic debut.

The former Arizona player and professional basketball player and his partner, Miles Evans, defeated host France in three sets on Monday to play their opening match of the beach volleyball tournament in Paris at ease.

“I really tried to use my basketball experience of 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 indoors.”

READ: Former NBA Player Chase Budinger Reaches Beach Volleyball Olympics

Budinger played seven years in the NBA, mostly as a rotation player for the Rockets and Timberwolves, before turning to beach volleyball to fulfill an Olympic dream. His first game, he still remembers, “I played terribly.”

“On the bus ride here, I was telling Miles about my first basketball game and how nervous I was and how the nerves really got to me,” Budinger said. “I was 0-for-2 (from 3-point range), had two turnovers and one of my shots was an airball. So the nerves were really affecting my game.”

On Monday at the Eiffel Tower Stadium, he showed no signs of nerves, even against a French team that had won its last three matches on the international tour.

“It’s taken me six years. It’s taken me a long time to finally reach this goal and I’m here to compete in the Olympics,” Budinger said. “And there’s no better feeling.”

Budinger and Evans scored the first three points and never trailed in the first set. In the second set, France was able to take a 3-1 lead before the Americans scored the next three points and finished the match in just 32 minutes.

“It’s one of the best starts we could have imagined,” Evans said. “I had all these bad scenarios in my head going into this game. I’m super thankful that we were able to overcome that.”

Unlike his NBA debut against the Portland Trail Blazers in 2009, Budinger said, “I felt like I was able to get a couple points early here. That helped alleviate some of that stress and nerves and allowed me to play more without it affecting me as much.”

In another high-profile beach match on Monday, Americans Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth defeated Australia’s Taliqua Clancy, silver medalist in Tokyo, and her new partner Mariafe Artacho del Solar in three sets to move to 2-0 in Paris.

France swept Rio gold medallist Laura Ludwig of Germany and her new partner, Louisa Lippmann, off the floor. Qatar, the men’s bronze medallist in Tokyo, defeated number one Sweden 2-1 to improve its group-match lead to 2-0.