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DONGGUAN, China – The United States have been squeezed out of the medal by France at the FIBA World Cup, without winning gold at a major international tournament for the first time since the 2006 world championships.
Evan Fournier scored 22 points, Rudy Gobert added 21 points and 16 rebounds, and France beat the US 89-79 team in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, catching up its deficit by seven points in the fourth quarter.
The United States had won 58 consecutive games in FIBA and Olympic competitions with NBA players, starting with the bronze medal game at the 2006 World Championships and going through all the FIBA Americas events , World Cup and Olympics since. The United States sought to become the first country to win three consecutive World Cups after winning three consecutive Olympic gold medals during this period.
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What Americans can do best in China is fifth. They are returning home with a place in the 2020 Olympics, but without a medal.
"We came here to win gold," Gobert said. "We knew it would not be easy, many people counted us, but we won."
Gobert said that beating the Americans was not the goal – winning gold is.
"It does not mean anything if you do not win in the end," said Gobert.
Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points for the United States, all three in the first three quarters. The Americans scored six consecutive goals, a drought that allowed the French to take control of a home and away match.
Nando De Colo scored 18 for France.
France was up 10 early in the second half. The United States scored 31-14 minutes over the next 10 minutes before rising by seven. Then, the French countered with a 15-2 run over the next five minutes, rising to 82-76 on a long jump Frank Ntilikina with 2:05 left.
Mitchell was fortunate to get the United States in the next two minutes with about a minute to face Gobert – but the center of France read what his teammate Utah Jazz was going to do to perfection.
France had been 0 to 9 against the United States in major international matches, most of these results being one-sided. But the last meeting between the nations was a win of 100 to 97 US at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro three years ago, and France sent three players – Gobert, De Colo and Nicolas Batum – who played in this match.
No American player who played this afternoon in Rio is part of this year's World Cup team.
France overtook the United States 21-12 in the first half, Gobert scored 10 times in the first 20 minutes of the match and the Americans scored 45-39. The United States had been trained at 8:25 in their first five combined games, but at 11:24 in the first period on Wednesday.
Fournier's layup with 7:33 to go in the third gave France a 53-43 lead, and that's when Mitchell started.
He scored 14 points in the third quarter only, and his dunk with 2 minutes 40 seconds left the United States in a 60-60 draw. Marcus Smart made three free throws after being fouled by Gobert, allowing the Americans to come back in the lead and the Americans took a 66-63 lead in the fourth.
But they could not finish it.
TIP-INS
La France:
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Gobert played the first 12:26. The longest he's had before his first break in a Jazz match last season was 11:30.
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Ntilikina scored 11 for France.
Team USA:
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Smart scored 11 and Kemba Walker was 10 for the United States.
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Prior to Mitchell's offensive blast on Wednesday, the previous single-goal match of any US player of this World Cup was that of Jaylen Brown 20 points against Japan in the first round.
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Jayson Tatum (sprained left ankle) missed his fourth straight game.
FOLLOWING
La France: Faced with Argentina in the semi-finals in Beijing on Friday.
Team USA: Facing Serbia in consolation round in Dongguan on Thursday.
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