FIBA Update: Pau Gasol goes nova as France is eliminated
Evan Fournier and France were eliminated from Eurobasket as Pau Gasol scored 40 points to send Spain to the final and France to the bronze medal game.
Last year, France ended Spain’s dreams. As the consensus second best team around the world, it was assumed their home court advantage would help them challenge the United States once again.
That dream ended in the quarterfinals when France upset them and made their run deeper into the tournament.
Turnabout would be fair play Thursday in Lille, France.
Spain came charging hard. Or rather Pau Gasol did. He scored 40 points on 12-for-21 shooting. After Rudy Gobert and Joffrey Lauvergne picked up four fouls, Spain burned off five straight points and took a one-point lead late, erasing France’s control over the game.
Nicolas Batum hit a three to force overtime. But in overtime, he missed three free throws with a chance to tie and Spain played keep away, giving Gasol one more forceful dunk to put emphasis on the big 80-75 victory, ending the Eurobasket reign of France and sending Spain to the Olympics next summer and the Eurobasket final.
Batum and Nando de Colo each had 14 points with de Colo dominating play in the first half to give France an initial lead. Rudy Gobert dominated the second half with eight points and 13 rebounds. But France was inconsistent offensively and could not get quality shots.
Spain just sent the ball to Gasol and the seemed to be enough. He put in a dominant performance in just about every way, bringing Spain back from the brink late in the fourth quarter. And finding a way to win the game.
France can only look at themselves and feel a tinge of disappointment.
Evan Fournier did his part in limited minutes. He came in at the end of the first quarter and immediately hit a deep three. It had the broadcasters hopeful he had put a tough quarterfinal behind him and would have a big game. He seemed pretty confident.
That would be his only 3-point shot. He took another shot in the third quarter when he missed a driving layup. Like a lot of this tournament, Fournier seemed to be rushing things.
Otherwise, Fournier was solid defensively. He did a good job getting back in transition and challenging the play (he blocked a shot in transition with good vertical position). He did a good job digging down too, helping guard Gasol.
But he picked up three quick fouls and was taken out of the game pretty quickly in the second quarter. He played a brief stint in the fourth quarter as Vince Collet opted to stay with his starting lineup. Hard to blame him with so much on the line.
Now France will go for the Bronze Medal on Saturday against the loser of tomorrow’s Serbia-Lithuania matchup.
Latvia falls short against Greece
Latvia’s hopes of making the Olympic Qualifying Tournament will come down to Friday’s game against the Czech Republic. The winner gets to play next summer, the loser stays home.
Greece defeated Latvia 97-90 behind a 37-29 fourth quarter. Yannis Bourousis scored 20 points to go with six rebounds to lead Greece.
Kristaps Janicenoks scored 22 to lead Latvia. The spunky team just could not get any stops, struggling with fouls at the end.
Janis Timma had six points on two 3-pointers and added five assists. Timma continues to be an interesting prospect that has a variety of skills. It is still hard to peg him down sometimes, but Timma certainly continues to show promise. He will have one more game here at Eurobasket.