France gives Spain the boot; Serbia thru

THE REFEREE stands between French forward Florent Pietrus (left) and Spanish guard Sergio Llull as tempers flare during their tense quarterfinal match in Madrid. AFP

MADRID—France upset Spain, 65-52, in front of its stunned fans in the quarterfinals of the Fiba Basketball World Cup on Wednesday.

After dominating its first six games and blowing out France by 24 points in the group phase, Spain appeared to be the main candidate to dethrone the United States in a possible final that would have been a rematch of the past two Olympic gold-medal games.

But France defended well and rebounded even better to ruin Spain’s quest for a title for a second straight summer.

Last summer, Tony Parker helped France end Spain’s quest for a third consecutive European title.

This time, Spain had several reasons to believe it would avenge that loss. Parker wasn’t playing for France, and Spain had Pau Gasol back in its ranks, besides playing at home.

“It’s a painful and disappointing loss,” Gasol said. “We had such high expectations and had played so well until now.”

Spain had averaged 88 points per game through its first six wins, all blowouts. But France cut off Spain’s passing lanes and forced it into solo efforts.

Spain’s guards didn’t adjust by looking for Pau and Marc Gasol in the post enough, and then compounded that by missing all but two of their 22 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc.

“Everyone thought we had won this before it started, but we didn’t prepare well for the game and were trying to play catchup the entire way,” Spain guard Juan Carlos Navarro said.

Boris Diaw scored 15 points and Thomas Heurtel added 13 for a France team which pulled in 50 rebounds to Spain’s 28.

Pau had 17 for Spain, but his brother Marc and Serge Ibaka each went 1-of-7 from the field to combine for 5 points.

Serbia awaits France after it routed Brazil, 84-56, in the other quarterfinal.

The US plays Lithuania in the other semifinal in Barcelona on Thursday.

Pau scored in the post to spark Spain’s 12-4 run to open the third period and edge ahead 40-39.

A scuffle marred that span when France’s Florent Pietrus slapped Sergi Llull in the back of the head. Pietrus was called for a technical foul.

Spain entered the final period with a one-point lead but without any clear plan of attack.

The defeat hurt almost as much as the Spanish football team’s early elimination from this summer’s World Cup.

Serbia’s result also reversed a group matchup, as Serbia lost to Brazil last Wednesday, when Spain beat France.

This time, Brazil’s trio of NBA centers in Varejao, Tiago Splitter and Nene were ineffective, as Serbia bettered the bigger Brazilians, and turned a five-point halftime lead into a rout by outscoring Brazil 29-10 in the third period.

Serbia was led by guard Milos Teodosic, who scored 23 points, hit three 3-pointers, and made four assists. AP