Nikola Mirotic scored 23 points to power Spain to their third straight Olympic semifinal with a convincing 92-67 win over France. The French were led by Tony Parker, who tallied 14 points in his final international game. Spain now awaits the winner of the next quarterfinal game between the United States and Argentina.
France takes early lead, Spain dominates second quarter
Opening baskets by Nando De Colo and Parker gave the French a quick 4-0 lead, but Spain soon found their game and they assumed the lead when Mirotic hit a three for a 9-8 edge as Spain never trailed after this point. They extended their lead to 17-10 with 2:32 left in the first quarter when Mirotic hit another jumper, but France closed on a 6-2 run to cut the Spaniards lead to 19-16 after ten minutes.
The second quarter was decisive in determining the tone of the remainder of the game as Spain's lead grew to 27-17, their largest of the game so far, on a Felipe Reyes layup. After Parker scored five points in a row to cut the lead in half, Spain went up by 11 on a Sergio Llull triple. Now with their biggest lead of the game, 36-25, they went looking to expand their lead and they were able to go up by as much as 13 on two separate occasionsm the last at 43-30 on another Llull jumper. That would be the halftime score.
Spain continues to widen lead as France's struggles continue
Spain continued their outstanding play and their lead ballooned to 18 when Mirotic nailed a long-range jumper, part of a personal seven point run. The Spaniards were on cruise control and when Llull hit another field goal, they led 55-37, their second 18 point bulge of the game. Things weren't getting better for France and they were falling behind further, a Pau Gasol dunk putting them up by 19, Reyes three free throws extending it 22 and Willy Hernangomez layup again put them up by 22 and they would lead 69-49 after three periods.
The fourth quarter was a mere formality as Spain scored the first eight points of the frame to take a 77-49 lead, France scoreless for the first 2:31 before a bucket by Joffrey Lauvergne. Spain well and truly showed their domination when Juan Carlos Navarro hit a layup to put the reigning two-time silver medalists up by 30, the French humiliated at this point. A 6-0 run by France restoring a small modicum of pride, but it made little impact on the final result as Spain was content on trading baskets the rest of the way, running out to a 25 point win and reaching the last four.
For Parker, an outstanding international career comes to a disappointing end. "I just took a lot of pride playing for the national team," said the 34-year-old Parker, who scored 14 in his final game. "I just love playing in this competition. I love this atmosphere, which is very different than the NBA. Growing up, my dream was to win an NBA championship. That was my ultimate goal. But as I grew up, I fell in love with the national team.
"We won the gold medal in juniors when I was 18. So then my goal was to try to bring the first national team ever championship for France, and we did that in 2013. Overall, just great experiences. I enjoyed it all these years. These last 16 years have been great. I don't regret one second."