FRA/GRE - French late show downs Greece

KAUNAS (EuroBasket) – Tony Parker and Nicolas Batum have steered France past Greece in Wednesday’s first Quarter Final, combining for 18 final quarter points to see France emerge victors 64-56.

The deceptive scoreline fails to reflect the Greek dominance for three quarters of the game, with Parker struggling to find his range in the early stages.
 
When it mattered however the French point guard stamped his authority on the game scoring four quick points and providing an assist to send his team on a 9-2 scoring run to begin the final quarter, putting them in the lead for the first time in the game.
 
Now narrowly ahead, Parker and Batum would assure they remained there with Batum sinking two threes before coming up with a blocked shot and back to back jump shots from outside the paint to give France a six point buffer going into the final minute.
 
Batum would finish with 15 points on three-from-four shooting from beyond the arc whilst Parker ended the night as top scorer with 18 points to go alongside three assists and five rebounds. On the back of 12 points in the first half, Nando de Colo would finish up with 16.

Having achieved their main pre-tournament goal of a top six finsh - guaranteeing at least an Olympic Qualifying place - France are now setting the sights on their first podium finish since EuroBasket 2005, while a win against semifinalists Russia or Serbia, would see them book a direct ticket to the London Games.
 
“We are very happy to win this game as we have achieved our first goal here which was to make it to the Olympic qualifying round,” French Head Coach Vincent Collet said following the game.
 
The situation is a little more difficult for Greece who must now beat the loser of the other quarterfinal to earn their spot in the Olympic qualifying tournament.

FIBA