Basketball: France knock holders U.S. out of World Cup

19:00
11 September 2019

France caused the biggest shock of the basketball World Cup in China after beating holders the United States 89-79 to reach the semi-finals of the 32-nation tournament on Wednesday, APA reports citing Euronews.

France will meet Argentina on Friday for a berth in Sunday’s final while 2006 champions Spain take on the winners of the Australia v Czech Republic quarter-final, who were playing later on Wednesday. The United States, favourites to win their third successive and sixth overall world title, dropped into the 5-8th place playoffs after they failed to reach the medal rounds for the first time since the 2002 tournament in Indianapolis. The Americans were beaten in a last-eight clash by the former Yugoslavia in that tournament and they next face Serbia, who were billed as their most likely rival in a gold-medal clash in this year’s event. Having ground out a barely deserved 93-92 overtime win over Turkey in the preliminary group stage, there was to be no escape for the U.S. this time against an athletic French side who overpowered them in every department.

An aggressive French defence forced a flurry of first-half turnovers and having engineered a 45-39 halftime lead, they surged 51-41 early in the third quarter thanks to inspired performances from Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert. As the duo began to tire, Team USA hit back thanks to a one-man show from Donovan Mitchell, who netted 14 of his game-high 29 points in the third quarter to give the 2014 champions a 66-63 lead ahead of the final 10 minutes.

But Mitchell stayed scoreless in the fourth quarter while his Utah Jazz team mate Gobert and Orlando Magic guard Fournier hit top gear. Trailing 72-65, France went on a 17-4 run and cool free-throw shooting in the last 90 seconds of the clash gave them a memorable win as Gobert finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds while Fournier netted 22 points.

The towering Gobert also produced two crucial blocks in the final minute as the Americans lost their momentum and threw away several key possessions. The only positive they will take from the tournament is that they have qualified for next year’s Olympics in Tokyo alongside Australia, Argentina, Iran and Nigeria. The tournament’s top two European nations will also advance to the 2020 Games, joining hosts Japan who gained an automatic berth.

Ilkin Jalilov