FIBA World Cup: France Edged USA Out To Reach Semi-finals

France staged a comeback in the decider and dealt blow to Team USA's unbeaten run in the quarter-final, leading to the defending champions early exit from the tournament.

The 89 - 79 loss ended the Americans' 58-game winning streak and terminated their race for the third successive World Cup title despite tremendous effort from Mitchell Donovan that had the team to take the lead before France's Gobert Rudy inspired a rally.

Rudy played a vital role in France's victory picking up 21 points, 16 rebounds, and 2 assists as they advanced into the semi-final. His influence in the team overrode that which the United States witnessed from Mitchell, who led the standouts with 29 points, six rebounds, and four assists.

"In this situation, it hurts more but life goes on," Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich admitted. "This is very important, and we would have loved to have won just like any other team."

France had led the first half of the game over the United States which later rallied from 10-point down to take the lead by 70-65 early in the fourth quarter with a back-to-back three-pointer from Jaylen Brown.

Whilst it seems the Americans were coasting to victory, France staged an offensive with Gobert leading the cause and rose from seven points deficit to tie the game with a three-point shot from Ntilikina Franks in 4.36 seconds. Hence, the game was in the control of the European side with Evan Fournier leading the side with 22 points, three rebounds, and four assists.

"If they didn't want to come here, it's on them," Mitchell complained about the absence of top NBA players in the team. "We have 11 other guys in this room that want to compete, on top of that, guys who didn't make it that wanted to compete, too. So. I'm going to ride for these guys."