Following France’s upset win over Australia at the FIBA World Cup in China on Monday, NBA reporter Kurt Helin tweeted that with France facing Team USA in the next (quarterfinal) round, a semifinal between Team USA and Serbia was all but assured.
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert of France “liked” the tweet, which, as those in Utah are familiar, often is a sign Gobert would be using it as motivation.
Well, Helin went 0 for 2 on his prediction, as Serbia was upset by Argentina on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday morning Mountain Time, France came away with an 89-79 upset win over Gobert’s Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell and Team USA to remove it from medal contention.
Team USA led 76-71 with 5:28 remaining but didn’t score again for nearly four minutes, and by then, France had gone on an 11-0 run.
Perhaps the biggest play of the game involved both Gobert and Mitchell. With less than a minute to go and France up 82-78, Mitchell got Gobert in isolation behind the 3-point line, but Gobert recovered near the basket and blocked Mitchell’s layup.
France’s Nando de Colo was fouled on the defensive rebound and made both free throw attempts to stretch the lead to six, and Team USA couldn’t mount a comeback from there.
Gobert was tremendous for the winning side, finishing with 21 points, 16 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and a steal in 34 minutes. Mitchell was also excellent in the losing effort, scoring a game-high 29 points with six rebounds, four assists and two steals in 32 minutes, although he went scoreless in eight fourth quarter minutes.
The outcome marked a disappointing but perhaps not altogether surprising finish for Team USA, as many of the country’s top stars declined invitations to join the squad for the tournament.
France and Argentina will play in the semifinals on Friday (6 a.m. MT), while Team USA will play Serbia in the fifth-place bracket on Thursday (5 a.m. MT).
Later Wednesday morning, Jazz forward Joe Ingles, former University of Utah star Andrew Bogut and the rest of the Australian team punched their tickets to the tournament semifinals with an 82-70 win over the Czech Republic.
Bogut led the local duo in scoring with 10 points and also had three blocks, three assists and two rebounds in 12 minutes. Ingles scored six points to go along with five rebounds, four assists and three steals in 32 minutes.
The Boomers gained separation in the third quarter, outscoring the Czech Republic 30-18.
They’ll play former Jazzman Ricky Rubio and Spain in the semifinals on Friday (2 a.m. MT).
All games can be viewed on ESPN+.