French National basketball team has ended the USA’s run of 58 straight wins in international tournaments, beating them 89-79 at the quarterfinal of the ongoing 2019 FIBA world cup. The quarterfinal game took place at Dongguan Basketball Center in Dongguan, China.
The historic victory means France will now be progressing to the Semi-finals, while the US national team will be looking to play the losers spot for 5th place if they win their next game.
The elimination of the US team means that there will be a new FIBA World Cup champion for the first time since Spain won the tournament in 2006, that was after Greece defeated the US in the same tournament in 2006.
The game was an exiting one, as both teams showed enough quality to win the game for their respective teams, but France dominated from the out set, with Utah Jazz centre Rudy Gobert and Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier showing too much quality and leadership with the two finishing with 21 points, 16 rebounds (for Rudy Gobert) and three blocks. and 22 points for Even Fournier.
For the Team USA Gobert’s Jazz teammate, Donovan Mitchell registered a game-high 29 points. Boston Celtics guard Kemba Walker, meanwhile, was held to 10 points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Gobert despite being mocked before the game, showed why he is the reigning two-time Defensive Player of the Year in the NBA, as he held Turner to just two points and one rebound in what was by far his worst game of the tournament.
A big disappointment for the Team USA, but congratulations to the French team as they will now move on to face Argentina in the semifinals on Friday, and it is going to be an exciting battle.
The USA will face Serbia in a classification game Thursday and will then play for either fifth place or seventh place Saturday, depending on the result of that game.
Game talking points:
Donovan Mitchell: 29 PTS
Rudy Gobert: 21 PTS, 16 REB
Evan Fournier: 22 PTS
No official statement yet from both teams as at the time of this report, we shall be bringing you those statements from both sides when we get them.
…congratulations to the French basketball team!