The two teams started the game rather slowly and with McCarty and Turiaf each leading his team they were close to each other constantly (5-4, 8-7, 14-13). The most notable fact of the first quarter was McCarty's injury who had to leave the court in pain. The score at the end of the first quarter was 17-15 to Russia.
The second quarter started with unnecessary fouls by Mozgov who got yelled at by his coach for it while at the intermission the French coach got a technical foul and Russia started with two free throws plus possession. This helped Russia to establish its first rather large lead, 28-21 in the game. Blatt threw McCarty back in the court, although he was in pain, but that did not help much as the French returned and tied the game at 30-30. With the score at 33-33 McCarty converted two of three free throws he was awarded after being fouled behind the arc. The second quarter finished with Koffi's missed threepointer, score 35-34 to Russia.
Russia got off with the right foot in the second half and with McCarty scoring his 13th point gained a 7 points lead, 44-37. Two back to back threepointers by Parker and Ponkrashov in a period of some seconds made it 47-40. France managed to find their way back to the game by dominating the boards and tied the game 47-47. Mozgov with a powerful dunk and Parker with probably the play of the tournament so far made the score 52-51 for France, which was the final score for the third quarter.
Last quarter started off with De Colo and Fridzon scoring behind the arc for 55-55. Four quick points by Diaw made it 59-55. Mozgov's 6th block on Turiaf and two dunks from Kurbanov made the score 61-60 to France. Turiaf converted his 6th free throw (out of 12) to make it 67-64. Russia could not organise their last attacks well and the game finished with the French side winning it 69-64.
RUSSIA 64-69 FRANCE
Russia: Vorontsevich 5, Kurbanov 12, Bykov 2, Fridzon 11, McCarty 13, Monya 7, Ponkrashov 7 (8 assists), Zozulin 6, Mozgov 8
France: Batum, Parker 17, Koffi 2, Jeanneau 3, Pietrus 1, De Colo 7, Diaw 19 (7 rebounds, 7 assists), Turiaf 18 (14 rebounds), Traore 2
Game quotes:
Timofey Mozgow (Russia): "The game was very tough. Just at the end our opponents were a little better and won the game. I am sorry about the game, but this is a sport. For me it was a great experience to play against a few very good players from NBA."
Ronny Turiaf (France): "It was a tough game, very hard for both teams. We stayed focused for 40 minutes, we played together and we are very happy with beating a very strong Russian team."
David Blatt (Russia Coach): "Congratulations to the French team. Both teams played hard, both teams were in position to win the game. We rebounded badly, we turned ball over more, but on the other hand, in the third quarter we controlled the game. Statistically it doesn't make sense. France showed their great experience, they led relatively consisted game during whole 40 minutes."
Vincent Collet (France Coach): "I am very glad because we beat a very strong Russian team. For now it was the toughest and our best game in this tournament. We played much better on offense than yesterday. We moved a lot and found good situations. The best thing that we've is controlling our game. We knew all the time what we should do with the ball. We had only 12 turnovers, we dominated boards what was the key to win."
