France will be the rival of the United States in the final for the basketball gold of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The French team beat Slovenia 90-89, which could not stretch its undefeated with Luka Doncic on the court. Nando de Colo, with 25 points, and Evan Fournier, with 23, were the top scorers in the semifinal played at the Saitama Super Arena in the Japanese capital.
With a choral performance from their stars, France closed the way to the dazzling Doncic, well controlled on defense but who posted a triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 18 assists.
The Dallas Mavericks genius joins an exclusive club that only included the Soviet Alexander Belov, who achieved it in Montreal 1976, and Lebron James, in London 2012. His best partner, Mike Tobey, finished with 23 points, while Klemen Prepelic did 17.
Doncic and a triple-double that was not enough for Slovenia. Photo: Reuters
However, tired and unconfident from his poor shooting percentage (he hit just 5/18 from the field), Doncic looked out of focus in the final minutes. And he didn’t even take over the last shot.
The responsibility for the decisive action fell on Prepelic, who had the victory in a drive to the basket. But Nicolas Batum endorsed him with an imposing cap that is worth securing a medal for France.
In the best match of the tournament, France imposed its greatest depth of squad: Led by De Colo and Fournier (23), with a captain Batum without weight in the annotation but who starred in the action that will go down in history.
Nicolas Batum’s cap to Klemen Prepelic to win the semifinal. Photo: AP
France had been awakened in the first quarter by the entry of Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, fine in attack (15 points in total) and putting Doncic under great pressure to equalize the duel (29-29) at the beginning of the second.
The point guard accused the French toughness, with several errors in the shot and some losses, sitting for the first time briefly on the bench after 13 minutes of play.
A two-point shot by Vlatko Cancar (11 points) allowed Slovenia to go two points clear at half-time.
France started the third quarter moving the ball well, which allowed them to shoot comfortably and hit three consecutive triples, to achieve what was their biggest advantage, six points.
Rudy Gobert fights a rebound with Edo Muric. Photo: AFP
Irregular in the tournament, De Colo offered his best minutes, with great confidence in the shot, in a set in which France exhibited all their collective strength.
Accustomed to swimming with the current in favor, Slovenia faced its worst moments of the tournament, forced to come back. Doncic did not work the fast track and chose to distribute so that his team reached the last set alive, six below.
Fournier took over from De Colo and France survived ahead until Tobey swept two balls near the rim and tied the game 78-78.
Rudy Gobert makes a clearance resulting in Luka Doncic. Photo: AP
Then Jaka Blazic received a technique for complaining to the referees and France did not waste the gift to settle the action with four points. Faced with a Doncic without ideas and exhausted, the Gauls no longer released the game.
As a result, France will again face the United States, who in the first semi-final had beaten Australia 97-78 after a very poor first half. It will be the second time that both teams meet in Tokyo 2020: in the previous one, in the first match for both in the competition, the Europeans had surprised by winning 83-76. Is revenge coming?
Doncic, disheartened, after the defeat. Photo: EFE
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