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Rio de Janeiro

The French center's performance Sunday was all that Utah fans could want from him in the Olympics, contributing as France stormed back against the USA and threatened to stage an upset.

Yes, University of Utah followers undoubtedly were impressed by Kim Tillie's work as a reserve. As for Utah Jazz fans, starting center Rudy Gobert's showing in these Games remains uninspiring.

The Rudy of Rio is not an overwhelming success. The five-game sample is small and it would be wrong to say that Gobert's Olympics have been a disaster, as France (3-2) goes into the quarterfinals after Sunday's 100-97 loss to the Americans. A disaster is what happened to Jazz guard Dante Exum in international play last summer, when he sustained a season-ending knee injury.

Disappointing, though? Absolutely. Gobert is not regressing; he's just not advancing to a degree that inspires hope for a big season with the Jazz.

"We feel good about where we are as a team," Gobert said, looking ahead to Wednesday's knockout stage. "We've improved so far."

His own game is not fitting that description, however.

The newly acquired Boris Diaw is doing some very encouraging things for France in this tournament, as you project him into Jazz coach Quin Snyder's rotation. He may not record triple doubles in the NBA, as he almost did Wednesday vs. Serbia. But in a nightly role of 15 to 20 minutes, the 34-year-old Diaw will use his passing skills to keep the ball moving and make plays for his teammates. He recorded seven assists Sunday — and may have added a couple more, if Gobert had done a better job of finishing.

Gobert salvaged what he could from this game, which began with his two fouls in the first three minutes. A weird call away from the ball — Jazz fans never have liked the officiating crew of Borys Ryzhyk, Oleg Latislevs and Javor Damir, have they? — sent Gobert to the bench. Because the 40-minute international game has a five-foul limit, two early fouls are a killer.

Gobert ended up playing only 18 minutes, so his six points and five rebounds were reasonable totals. He didn't block any shots, but France outscored the USA by eight points with him on the court and he's plus-25 for the tournament. His averages of 5.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in 20 minutes are decent. Subjectively, though, he's not demonstrating offensive growth.

In contrast, Tillie's six points in eight minutes Sunday nearly doubled his nightly production as a Ute starter for an NCAA Tournament team in 2009. Tillie overachieved against the USA, which is not what Gobert is doing in Rio.

In the third quarter, when France was trying to stay close, Gobert missed a dunk and then failed to convert a layup after taking a nice pass from Diaw. The USA later pulled away to a 16-point lead, before Tillie helped France rally in the fourth period.

France's effort was impressive, as Tony Parker sat out with a bruised foot. The team will have a good shot at reaching the semifinals after playing Wednesday against the No. 2 team from Group B.

All the Jazz really want from Gobert is to come home healthy. General manager Dennis Lindsey tells the story of watching Gobert and Tibor Pleiss play last summer, wanting them to "get off the court as quick as possible," he says. "That's kind of a weird emotion."

Mostly due to fouls, Gobert is not staying on the court very long in Rio. But while he's out there, he could be doing more to help France now and the Jazz in the future.

Twitter: @tribkurt