Nic Batum made his much-anticipated debut on Saturday night only for France to show that it could keep on winning even without the newest NBA multi-millionaire.
The French, with their deep bench again doing the job, tore hulking Turkey to shreds in the second half to cruise to a 75-63 win in their half of the semifinals and seal a much-ballyhooed title clash with Canada for the lone Rio Games berth staked in the Manila Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Thomas Huertel played so well in holding the French together that he kept Tony Parker on the bench the entire fourth period and several other stepped in as Batum played just 21 minutes and was hardly a factor in France’s third straight win.
They clash with Canada at 9 p.m. on Sunday for the right to play in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next month after the Canadians scored a hard-earned 78-72 triumph over New Zealand earlier in the night.
Huertel, who also sparked France’s come-from-behind win over New Zealand at the end of the first phase on Thursday, fired 12 of his 17 points in the fourth period and had a hand in at least four other French baskets in the quarter.
He played so well that Parker was able to take a lot of rest and be ready to go full steam ahead against the Canadians in the title game.
France, the world’s highest-ranked team in this six-nation event at No. 5, again started out coldly, trailing, 3-13, before waking up just as quickly to drop a 13-0 bomb and be on its way.
Batum, who was kept out of France’s first two games because of contract obligations with the Charlotte Hornets, finished with just three points, two assists and two steals.
His biggest contribution for the night was shackling ace Turkey point guard Ali Muhammed in the first half, limiting the 5-foot-10 sentinel to just four points.
Muhammed, who was born in Chicago as Robert Lee Dixon, came into the game fresh from a 23-point performance against Senegal.
Nando de Colo fired 13 points, big man Joffrey Lauvergne hit nine of his 11 in the third and Antoine Diot tossed in 10 for France, which didn’t get any of its NBA players in twin digits.
Parker had just two points in 19 minutes and Boris Diaw had four and seven rebounds.
“We’re still not satisfied with the way we started the game,” Diaw, who on Thursday was traded by the San Antonio Spurs to the Utah Jazz, said while on his way to the team bus. “Everyone played well tonight, but we will have a tough game against Canada.”
Canada, meanwhile, leaned on its foremost NBA team member in leading the attack and dismantle the Kiwis.
Corey Joseph fired 20 points and the Canadians exploited their advantage in size with clutch points underneath in the stretch to also stay unscathed like the French.
Tristan Thompson scored 13 points and had 10 boards, and Melvin Ejim capped a 13-point night with a three-point play with 20.6 seconds left off Mika Vukona which made it 77-71.
“It was a tough game, New Zealand is a very tough team,” Thompson told reporters shortly afterwards.
The Kiwis and the Turks thus joined Senegal and Gilas Pilipinas in exiting the tournament early.

Source: Arab News