France defeated the United States Men’s National Basketball Team 89-79 in the third FIBA World Cup quarterfinal game of the morning.
Although Team USA came into the contest unbeaten in the tournament, France made their competition look vulnerable throughout the match-up. The Frenchmen used their size and chemistry to their advantage and outplayed the Americans by nearly every metric.
Donovan Mitchell and Evan Fournier went toe-to-toe in the first quarter, trading baskets and scoring the game’s first 10 points. Kemba Walker tried to get himself going but found little success with Frank Ntilikina manning the perimeter and Rudy Gobert patrolling the paint.