French toast

I’ve been dreaming about this for a while.

RUDY Gobert leads France to a stunning win over the United States. AFP

DONGGUAN, China (AFP) — France blew the FIBA Basketball World Cup wide open by handing the United States its first loss in the competition in 13 years in their quarterfinal clash, powered by a double-double from big man Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz.

The historic 89-79 win for France eliminates the Americans early from the competition in China, dashing their hopes of a third straight title.

The prospect of an American exit had looked increasingly possible after the US sent a squad of second-tier stars and the loss is likely to prompt soul-searching in USA Basketball.

Gobert, the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, had three blocks, including a key rejection down the stretch to help France seal the victory in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan.

The 7-foot-1 center called the win “unbelievable.”

“I’ve been dreaming about this for a while. I was thinking we might never get the opportunity to beat the US again and I told that to the guys,” Gobert said.

“It doesn’t mean much if you don’t win the gold, but it will go down as one of the biggest wins of my career and one of the biggest wins for French basketball for sure.”

In a hint of the sniping that may result in the United States over the debacle, shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, who lead the Americans with 29 points, hit back at the critics of the team.

“You guys are going to go on and say who we didn’t have but why don’t you all focus on who we do have?” he told reporters.

“We have 12 guys who want to compete for America just like every other country. It sucks that some of our countrymen don’t feel that way about us, but we don’t care. We wanted to compete and we did.”

France will play Argentina on Friday, which made it to the Final Four by defeating Serbia.

The US loss sets up an enticing consolation match with Serbia. Packed with NBA players, the two were tournament favorites and will be trying to salvage pride.

The contest was marked by big lead changes and Mitchell’s jumpers and slashing moves to the basket helped the Americans cut down a 10-point French advantage in the third quarter to seize back the lead.

It doesn’t mean much if you don’t win the gold, but it will go down as one of the biggest wins of my career and one of the biggest wins for French basketball for sure.

But Mitchell cooled in the fourth and the French came back, led by Gobert and sharp-shooting small forward Evan Fournier of the Orlando Magic, who led France in scoring with 22 points.

Fournier slashed to the hoop for a driving layup to give France the lead again at 78-76 with about three minutes remaining in the game.

With under a minute left and down by four, Mitchell squirted into the lane for a layup, but Gobert smothered the shot by his Jazz teammate and the Americans were never able to get any closer.