By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With 30 seconds to go, Tony Parker made the shot that gave to France the win over Serbia. Still this win probably confirms a semifinal clash with USA for the French and Parker admitted that this was an akward position.
“I was shooting to win, I didn’t want to make an airball. It was a dream for me a final between USA and France. However, this is the situation now”, explained France’s star to the French news agency AFP after the game. Parker admitted that the team talked before the game about the possibility of losing on purpose, but “our decision was to go for the win. The Serbs also played to win”. French Coach Vincent Collet also agreed to that.
The format of the Olympic tournament has this issue, as the teams can in some cases chose their path to the final and losing in order to pick opponents is not uncommon. Rudy Gobert admitted that there’s no clear solution to the issue: “It’s always like this in big tournament. It’s difficult to find a format in order to avoid it”.