France overcomes Doncic triple-double, advances to gold medal game vs USA

France needed a game-saving block in the final seconds to overcome a gutsy performance from Luka Doncic's Slovenia, 90-89, to advance to the finals of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men's basketball tournament on Thursday at the Saitama Super Arena.

Nando De Colo led France with 25 points and Evan Fournier added 23 but it was their defense that stood out in the win.

Rudy Gobert and Nicolas Batum both had four blocks in the contest, none bigger than Batum's swat of a potential Klemen Prepelic game-winner with one second remaining to seal the win.

Gobert also finished with nine points and a game-high 16 rebounds.

Doncic turned in a masterful performance with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 18 assists but seemed to hurt himself in the fourth quarter and could not provide much scoring after that.

With the victory, France set up a rematch with a powerhouse USA team in the finals.

The French team already holds a win over the Americans in these Olympics, having won their group phase battle, 83-76, last week.

The USA secured their place in the finals with a 97-78 win over Australia in the other semifinal pairing, behind the 23 points of NBA star Kevin Durant.

Mike Tobey led Slovenia with 23 points while Prepelic had 17.

Doncic controlled the game in the first quarter, scoring or assisting on 15 of his team’s first 18 points in the game as Slovenia took an 18-14 lead. He finished the period with 10 points and five assists as his team led 29-27 after one.

He didn’t have as big of an impact in the second quarter, but Slovenia got a big lift from Prepelic as they stayed in front, 44-42, heading into the halftime break.

Doncic posted 12 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists in the first half, but they could not gain separation from a deep France team that had five current and former NBA players scoring seven or more points by halftime – led by the Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot with 10.

France was able to jump out ahead in the third period after a 12-3 run built around the offense of De Colo and some big defensive plays from Gobert. That allowed France to take an eight-point lead, 60-52, at the 6:18 mark of the third.

They would get that to a high of 10 points, 69-59, before some late threes from the Slovenians cut the French lead down to six, 71-65.

Doncic's playmaking kept his team in the game, but he looked like he may have injured his wrist after slamming it on a plexiglass divided while saving the ball from going out of bounds.

It didn't looked like it bothered him initially, as he quickly knocked down two free throws and dished out two more assists to put his team within striking distance. A putback from Slovenia's Mike Tobey allowed them to tie the game at 78-apiece with 5:26 left on the clock.

De Colo and Fournier continued to make plays for France but Slovenia would not go away, as Tobey again tied the game at 85-all on a huge putback with 3:06 remaining.

France got a huge shot to fall, though, as Luwawu Cabarrot knocked down an open three-pointer to make it 90-85 with 56 seconds remaining.

But Slovenia got some big-time plays from Prepelic as he hit a free throw and then a booming triple on Doncic's 18th assist to get Slovenia within one, 90-89, with 33 seconds left.

De Colo missed a shot on the other end and Doncic grabbed a rebound that would complete his triple-double.

He brought the ball up and gave the ball to Prepelic, who drove hard to the rim but his layup was denied from behind by Batum.

The scores:
France 90 – De Colo 25, Fournier 23, Luwawu-Cabarrot 15, Gobert 9, Yabusele 9, Heurtel 6, Batum 3, Fall 0, Ntilikina 0.

Slovenia 89 – Tobey 23, Prepelic 17, Doncic 16, Blazic 14, Cancar 11, Dimec 4, Hrovat 3, Dragic 1, Muric 0, Nikolic 0.

Quarterscores: 27-29, 42-44, 71-65, 90-89.

—JMB, GMA News