Nanjing (China) (AFP)
French basketball players, beaten Monday by Australia 100 to 98 for their last group match, will be forced to perform in the quarterfinals of the World Cup against the United States on Wednesday in China.
Even deprived of their best players (James Harden, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard), the Americans, who beat the Brazilians Monday (89-73), are present in China with a team 100% NBA and remain the big favorites of the competition.
The Americans made a big scare in their second match of the first round, defeating Turkey after extra time (93-92), but have been gaining momentum since, including two big wins in the second group stage, against Greece's MVP NBA's Giannis Antetokoumpo (69-53), then against Brazil.
Faced with Australia, in a very tight and spectacular match, the Blues have failed to escape the trio of "Boomers" Patty Mills (30 points), Joe Ingles (23) and Aron Baynes ( 21), while they created the only margin of the match, nine points ahead in the third quarter (70-61, 28th).
They had a final possession four seconds from the end of the match, while they were led 99-98, but failed to find Nando de Colo on the throw-in, leaving the win to the Australians.
The 31 points of Evan Fournier and the 26 points of Nando de Colo will not have been enough.
© 2019 AFP