Champions, United States
stunned after a surprise 89-79 loss to France in the quarter-finals of the
Basketball World Cup in China on Wednesday. The US had won the past two World
Cups and not lost in 58 international games, a run stretching back to 2006
Team USA’s last loss with
NBA players on its roster came against Greece in the semifinals of the 2006 world
championships. The Americans rebounded to win gold at the Beijing Olympics two
years later and also won the two Olympic tournaments that followed. They
already had qualified for next year’s Summer Games in Tokyo.
Both teams gave up leads
in the second half. France led by 10 early in the third quarter, but the
Americans countered with a 31-14 run over the next 10 minutes to take a
five-point lead. France then went on a 15-2 run to take a 82-76 lead with just
more than two minutes left and closed out the Americans from there.
France will play
Argentina in the semi-finals on Friday, with Spain taking on Australia in the
other match.
This will be the first
time the United States have failed to win a medal at the World Cup since 2002,
when they finished sixth.
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