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Rio de Janeiro • Tony Parker's go-ahead shot turned his former San Antonio Spurs teammate's impressive game into a winning effort.
And that guy is now a Jazzman.
Boris Diaw extended his Olympics impact Wednesday with 11 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in 29 minutes of play, and Parker's shot from the left wing with 31 seconds remaining gave France a 76-75 victory over Serbia in Group A preliminary play.
A wild sequence in the last eight seconds gave Serbia a chance to rescue a win, but Bogdan Bogdanovich's 35-foot attempt bounced off the rim. "I thought it was in," Diaw said.
But it was out, and France escaped with an important victory. Having lost to Australia in a tournament opener, France has beaten China and Serbia to give itself a great chance of advancing to the quarterfinals, with two preliminary games remaining.
"We had a rough start and now I feel we're back to our identity and we're playing a lot better," Parker said.
France dominated Wednesday's game for long stretches before fading late in the third quarter — with Diaw and Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert on the bench. France scored the game's last six points, though, as Serbia had seven empty possessions after going ahead 75-70 with 3:25 left.
Gobert gets some credit for Serbia's struggles at the end. Otherwise, his contribution was minimal: six rebounds, three points, two blocked shots.
Diaw's numbers showed the all-around ability he's known for — or "used to be, when I was young," he said with a laugh.
At 34, the 6-foot-8 forward remains "a very complete player," said French teammate Kim Tillie, from the University of Utah. "He's probably the most unselfish player I know. He's going to pass up 10 shots to try to give an assist to his teammates."
Diaw's game was "nothing surprising," Gobert said. "We all know he's a great all-around player. … That's who he is."
Former NBA player Nando de Colo led France with 22 points, and his steal in the last eight seconds could have clinched the victory. But instead of trying to dribble around before being fouled, he lobbed a pass to a leaping Nic Batum, who missed a short bank. Serbia rebounded the ball and gave Bogdanovich his last opportunity.
Diaw opened the game by scoring inside for a 3-point play and then assisting Batum on consecutive 3-pointers. By the end of the 10-minute first quarter, Diaw had posted six assists, five points and four rebounds.
Twitter: @tribkurt —
Story lines
•The Jazz's Boris Diaw just misses a triple double in France's 76-75 win over Serbia in the Olympic basketball tournament.
• France is 2-1 in Group A, with a probable win over Venezuela and a likely loss to the USA to come in its remaining preliminary games.
• The Jazz's Rudy Gobert stays out of foul trouble, but plays only 23 minutes.