France scores huge upset over USA Basketball in Olympic play

France scored a major upset in the Tokyo Olympic men's basketball tournament as they defeated the USA, 83-76, on Sunday at the Saitama Super Arena.

Evan Fournier scored 28 points while Rudy Gobert added 14 points and nine rebounds as they handed the Americans a huge setback in their first assignment following a rocky preparation for the Games.

France trailed by seven points, 74-67, with 3:41 remaining before closing out the game on a massive 16-2 run.

Jrue Holiday led the way with 18 points for the United States, which lost in the Olympics for the first time since 2004.

The NBA-star laden US team, which counts Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and Draymond Green among its roster, struggled during its pre-tournament exhibition games, losing to both Australia and Nigeria in the build-up to Tokyo.

It also made some last-minute replacements, swapping Keldon Johnson and JaVale McGee in for Bradley Beal and Kevin Love.

This, however, is the second straight loss the Americans will concede to the French team after having lost to them 89-79 in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

Team USA actually got off to a solid start, leading 45-37 at the halftime break.

France, though, flipped the script on them in the third period, outscoring the Americans, 25-11.

Fournier, a member of the Boston Celtics in the NBA, led France on a 12-3 run that wiped out a nine-point US lead and tied the game at 52-apiece. After Jayson Tatum put USA ahead with two free throws, France got a taste of the lead on a Nando De Colo three-pointer that put them up, 55-54.

Triples from De Colo and Thomas Heurtel allowed them to make it a six-point lead, 62-56, heading into the fourth quarter.

The Americans were able to turn things around in the fourth as they went on a 13-1 run, with 12 of those coming from Holiday. That gave the US a 69-63 lead with 5:24 remaining.

But the French team had one more run in them, rattling off nine unanswered points to again take the lead, 76-74, on a Fournier triple. The American then came up empty on their next offensive possession and De Colo made it a four-point game, 78-74, with two free throws.

Lillard then turned the ball over on the next play and was called for an unsportsmanlike foul that led to a free throw for Fournier and later, two free throws for Gobert that made it 81-74 in favor of France.

Lillard tried to make up for it by drawing a foul while shooting a three on the other end, but he only made two of his charities and those were quickly cancelled out by Nic Batum with two free throws of his own to mark the final score, 83-76.

The USA will have a chance to turn things around, though, as they have games against Iran and Czech Republic left in Group A.

The scores:
France 83 – Fournier 28, Gobert 14, De Colo 13, Fall 7, Yabusele 6, Batum 5, Heurtel 5, Poirier 3, Luwawu 2, Cornelie 0.

USA 76 – Holiday 18, Adebayo 12, Lillard 11, Durant 10, Tatum, Lavine 8, Booker 4, Green 2, McGee 2, Johnson 0, Middleton 0.

Quarterscores: 15-12, 37-45, 62-56, 83-76.

—JMB, GMA News