MADRID — France upset Spain 65-52 in front of its stunned fans in the quarterfinals of the 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 defeat,” Pau 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. “They prepared better than we did. We relied on doing what we always do, defend and get out on the break, but our shots didn’t fall, and they played with a lot of poise.”
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 just 5 points.
Serbia awaits France on Friday after it routed Brazil 84-56 in the other quarterfinal.
The U.S. plays Lithuania in the other semifinal in Barcelona on Thursday.