By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Tony Parker will complete his career with the French national team by playing in the Olympic Games. France got the 83-74 win over Canada in the final of the pre-Olympic tournament of Manila and became the last of the 12 teams which qualified to the Olympic tournament.
After a first half that ended with France leading just by three (39-36), France build a 48-38 lead, but Canada reacted (51-48) and everything was decided in the last minutes. The Canadians cut the lead to three again (67-64) with three minutes left, however the French closed the game with a 16-10 partial score which started with a 14-6 run.
Tony Parker led the way with 26 points and 4 assists, scoring 15 points in the last quarter, Nando De Colo added 22 points and 5 assists, while Corey Joseph, Parker’s former teammate in the Spurs, scored 20 points for Canada. Still he couldn’t make a difference, despite getting help by Melvin Ejim who had 19 points on 4/4 threes. NBA champ Tristan Thompson wasn’t also a factor with 8 points and 7 rebounds and he also got a techinal foul after a quarrel with De Colo in the last minutes.
Nando De Colo was named the MVP of the pre-Olympic tournament, after being also the MVP of the Euroleague regular season, the MVP of the Euroleague Final Four and the MVP of the VTB league this season.