With the game on the line with seconds remaining, #7 Klemen Prepelic of Slovenia had no one between him and a layup that would have put his country in the gold medal game at the Tokyo Olympics.
With 2.4 seconds remaining, France #5 Nicolas Batum reached over Slovenia #7 Prepelic Klemen to block the shot, and France survived a historic effort from Slovenia #77 Luka Doncic to upset Slovenia 90-89 in the Olympic men's basketball semifinals on Thursday night.
France #12 de Colo Nando scored 25 with three 3-pointers and 6/6 free throws, a total of seven rebounds and five assist, makes him the top performers for France that night.
Followed by France #10 Fournier Evan. He scored 23 for the team with four 3-pointers and 3/3 free throws. A total of five rebounds and three assist.
France #5 Batum Nicolas has only a 3-pointers for the team, a total of five rebounds, three assist one steals and four blocked shots, and the last block against Slovenia #7 Prepelic Klemen was the decisive moment to guarantee France to go the the finals.
France #3 Luwawu Cabarrot Timothe has scored 13 points with three 3-pointers, a total of five rebounds and two steals.
As for their reward: a rematch versus the three-time defending Olympic champions, the United States. France has won both of their previous encounters with the Americans, including in both teams' opening games at the Tokyo Olympics, and if they can do it again on Saturday, they'll be as good as gold.
Slovenia #77 Luka Doncic's triple-double was the third in Olympic men's history, with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 18 assists. Slovenia dropped to 17-1 all-time when he wears the national team colours, but it wasn't quite enough.
Doncic, who was wearing an ice pack on his wrist after the game, said, "I don't believe we played fantastic, but we were there." “We had one last chance, and we failed.”
When the game was finished, Batum walked up to Doncic and gave him a hug and words of encouragement, encouraging him to use the defeat as motivation to keep his reputation rising.
It was a sad and great moment at the same time. Both shows a true sportsmanship.
Batum stated, "He's the present." “And he'll be the next.”
France (FRA) 90 - 89 (SLO) Slovenia
27 [Quarter1] 29
15 [Quarter2] 15
29 [Quarter3] 21
19 [Quarter4] 24
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