This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Rio de Janeiro • Statistically and subjectively, Jazz center Rudy Gobert performed better Wednesday as France exited the Olympic basketball tournament.
Most important to the Jazz, he survived Rio. Imagine the reaction of Jazz executives when France coach Vincent Collet sent Gobert back into the game for the last three minutes with his team hopelessly behind in a 92-67 quarterfinal loss to Spain.
Gobert came through the Olympics healthy and showed some improvement against Spain with seven points and 12 rebounds against Spain. But his team played poorly and never really was in the game — after nearly upsetting the USA to conclude preliminary play Sunday.
"Nothing good," said Jazz teammate Boris Diaw, summarizing the afternoon. "Obviously, we wanted to get a medal. … We didn't play good, from top to bottom."
France's biggest problem was stopping Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic from outside, as he led Spain with 23 points. Tony Parker scored 14 points for France and Diaw posted eight points and five assists, almost right on his tournament averages. Yet the team did not play anywhere near as efficiently as Sunday, when Parker was sidelined with a bruised foot and France produced 97 points against the USA.
As the No. 3 seed from Group A, France ran into one of the tournament's hottest teams. Spain has responded well after suffering close losses to Croatia and Brazil to open the tournament and will be dangerous in Friday's semifinals against the USA.
Even so, France walked away disappointed with its effort in the knockout stage. "We didn't really compete in the second half," said Kim Tillie, a former University of Utah player. "Physically, we weren't fast enough or strong enough to guard their pick-and-roll."
Gobert's block in the second half was his only rejection in France's last three games, but he helped hold NBA veteran Pau Gasol to five points. Gobert topped his previous tournament high of eight rebounds as of early in the third quarter. He made a nice finish for a 3-point play late in the second quarter, although he missed a pair of free throws just before halftime, leaving his team behind 43-30. France never came any closer.
Playing six games at this level was "a good experience to learn from," Gobert said. "My first Olympics, it was great, but it's always [better] when you win. … Collectively, individually, you learn when you lose a game like that."
Gobert is headed home to France for a couple of weeks, then intends to return to Salt Lake City near the end of August to prepare for the start of training camp in the last week of September. Diaw will join him, having been traded from San Antonio in early July. Diaw was instrumental in France's advancing through an Olympic qualifying tournament in Manila that week, enabling Gobert to join the team in Rio.
Twitter: @tribkurt —
Story lines
• France is eliminated from the Olympic basketball tournament with a 92-67 quarterfinal loss to Spain.
• Spain makes 64 percent of its 2-point shots and shoots 52 percent overall in advancing to the semifinals.
• France finishes 3-3 in Rio after losing its opening game and then winning three in a row before losing to the USA by three points and to Spain by 25.