Pau Gasol poured in an international career-high 40 points and Spain outlasted 2013 champions France 80-75 in overtime in a gripping semi-final for the ages in front of a record crowd of 26,922 at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille.
Turning Point: A put-back dunk by Pau Gasol put Spain ahead 78-75 with 18 seconds remaining in overtime and Victor Claver fouled Nicolas Batum just as he was pulling up for a long three-pointer. To the astonishment of the crowd the French forward, who had previously sent the game into the extra session with a dagger three-pointer 13 seconds from the end of regulation, missed all three of his free-throws. Spain came up with the rebound after the last miss, broke the zone press and Gasol signed off with another imperial dunk.
Stats Don’t Lie: Spain fell behind by 11 points late in the third quarter and while it took them an eternity to come back and level the scores, the 2-3 zone defence they employed took away from France the option to put the ball inside. While Spain scored 42 of their points in the paint on 21-for-40, France had to settle for shots from range and shot only 14-of-32 from within the Spanish paint.
Game Hero: The 40 points on 12-for-21, 11 rebounds, three blocks and one steal of Pau Gasol tell only half the story of the colossal performance of the Spanish superstar on Thursday. Sergio Rodriguez was superb offensively for the winners coming off the bench while the boxscore does not reflect the crucial contribution of Sergio Llull, who chased down Tony Parker at first and then Nando De Colo as if they owed him money and made it impossible for either of the two to score on him.
Bottom Line: Spain have extracted revenge from France for the lost EuroBasket semi-final of 2013 and the quarter-final of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and will get a shot at their third European trophy against the winner of the second semi-final, between Serbia and Lithuania. Spain have also secured a direct berth in the 2016 Olympics while France will have to play in the bronze medal game and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
They Said:
“It was an incredible game, so hard-fought by both teams and an extremely difficult game to win here in France against a big team, I am very happy and proud for our team” – Pau Gasol.
“Nobody is mad at Nico for losing those free-throws, we should have been in a better position, in a position to win before that” – France captain Boris Diaw.
