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SAITAMA, Japan – Game on the line, golden luck on the line, and Slovenian Klemen Prepelic thought he had a layup that would have given Slovenia the win.
Frenchman Nicolas Batum thought differently.
Batum passed Prepelic to block the layup try with 2.4 seconds left, the last game of France’s 90-89 victory over Slovenia in the men’s basketball semifinal at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday night – overcoming a historic night of Luka Doncic.
Doncic achieved the third triple-double in men’s Olympic history: 16 points, 10 rebounds and 18 assists. But that wasn’t quite enough, and Slovenia fell to 17-1 anytime when Doncic was in the national team colors.
It might be as good as gold one day, but not yet. France will face the United States on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET Friday) to decide on the gold medal. France have only been at the Olympics once so far, losing to the Americans in the title match at the 2000 Games in Sydney.
France have won the last two meetings with the United States, first in the quarterfinals of the Basketball World Cup in 2019 and then to open group play in Tokyo.
Nando de Colo scored 25 points for France, Evan Fournier scored 23 and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot added 15 for the winners – now the last undefeated team in the men’s tournament at 5-0. Rudy Gobert scored nine points, 16 rebounds and four blocks for France, and Batum blocked four shots, none bigger than the one at the end.
Mike Tobey scored 23 for Slovenia, who got 17 from Prepelic.
France trailed eight in the first half, then rose to 10 late in the third before having to survive a wild fourth quarter. Slovenia tied the game twice in the last period, both times on hoops inside Tobey, but never took the lead.
Luwawu-Cabarrot threw in a pass from Gobert with 56.1 seconds left and made a wide open 3-pointers to give France the advantage 90-85. A free throw got Slovenia four down, then Fournier fouled offensively while dribbling upward on France’s next possession.
Slovenia had life.
Prepelic took a pass from Doncic on the possession that followed and hit a 3-pointer to bring Slovenia down to one. Then it was the last shot, which Batum repelled as Slovenia argued for a foul to no avail.
Doncic had already flirted with the triple-double twice at those Olympics, ultimately securing this one on a rebound that set up final possession for Slovenia. The other Olympic men’s triple doubles: Alexander Belov for the Soviet Union in 1976 and LeBron James for the United States in 2012.
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