Olympics Day #3 Group A: France - Lithuania Instant Recap.

1st quarter

After the first 4 minutes of the game, France is leading Lithuania 15-6.  Tony Parker has been aggressive so far, he has 4 points along with his Spurs teammate Boris Diaw.  France's playing good defense, not letting Lithuania get anything easy.  France started 6-8 FG and 3-3 from the line.

End of 1st:  France 25 - Lithuania 21

Lithuania weathered the storm and ended the quarter down just 4. This has been Tony Parker's most effective game in the Olympics by far, he scored 11 points (2-3 FG, 4-4 FT)  in the opening period. Gelabale and Batum each had 5.  Lithuania ended the quarter on a 10-5 run and Martynas Pocius lead them in scoring with 7.

2nd quarter


At the 6:48 mark,  France is leading 32-31.  Martynas Pocius is still hot from the field, he's made two three pointers in the period so far.  Nicolas Batum has 5 points for France in the quarter.   Pocius and Parker are leading their teams in scoring, both have 13.

End of 2nd quarter:  Lithuania 43, France 39

France didn't get much help in the 2nd quarter, Nicolas Batum had 10, the rest of his teammates contributed for 14 points.  Parker  had just 2 points in the period.  France only bench points came from a Nando De Colo basket, while Lithuania had 27 points from their bench.    Lithuania had a very hot Pocius, who didn't missed a shot in the first half and scored 13,  Linas Kleiza chipped in with 6 and 4 other players scored 4 points each.


First half stats:
Nicolas Batum 15  points.
Tony Parker 13 points, 2 assists & 2 rebounds.
Martynas Pocius 13 points, 5-5 FG,
Linas Kleiza 6 points, 4 rebounds.


3rd quarter

After the first 6 minutes Lithuania has only scored 1 point while France has 8, Lithuania also started the quarter shooting 1-11 from the field.

With 2:18 remaining, France has outscored Lithuania 15-6.  Lithuania is 0-5 from three and can't make a shot to save their life.

End of 3rd:  France 59, Lithuania 52

France due to playing spectacular defense,  outscored Lithuania 20-9 in the period.   Boris Diaw lead France to a late 10-2 run.

4th quarter

7:38-  Lithuania is taking the ball to the hoop, but have been denied twice at the rim  by Nicolas Batum. Boris Diaw has been huge for France, Diaw dished the ball to Kevin Seraphin for an alley oop dunk and also drove to the basket for a layup.  Lithuania has shot 4-19 in the 2nd half so far.   France leads 65-54

With 5:17 to go in the quarter, France leads 70-59. Nando De Colo gave France a spark with 5 consecutive points & Boris Diaw is having something to do with almost every  France possession of the quarter, Tony Parker has been quiet.

After being down by double figures almost all of the quarter, Lithuania starting making some shots and got the lead down to 6 points, however, Tony Parker who had been quiet, scored three baskets and ended Lithuania's hope of making a comeback.  Linas Kleiza and Simas Jasaitis tried to keep Lithuania in the game, Jasaitis got some three pointers to go down, but it wasn't enough.
 

Final score:  France 82, Lithuania 74

France

Tony Parker 25 points (9-15 FG), 5 boards, 2 assists
Boris Diaw 10 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds.
Nicolas Batum 21 points, 6 rebounds.

Lithuania
Linas Kleiza 17 points and 7 rebounds.
Martynas Pocius 15 points
Simas Jasaitis  11 points.

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Olympics Day #2 Group A: Argentina - France instant recap.

1st Quarter

France leads 19-12 after the first 10 minutes. Nicolas Batum got a dunk in the first possession and that seemed to get him going, he added two three pointers along with the dunk for 8 points in the quarter. Tony Parker has been struggling with his shot, but still has taken the ball to the hoop, penetrating and dishing the ball to teammates.  Gelabale contributed with a three pointer and Turiaf played good defense on Luis Scola.


Argentina couldn't get any offense whatsoever, Luis Scola and Manu Ginobili each scored 4 points apiece, Carlos Delfino couldn't knock down a three pointer.  Argentina had long droughts without scoring & Scola couldn't get into his spots like he did against Lithuania.



2nd Quarter

Argentina started the quarter with a 6-0 run until Nando de Colo made a three pointer and stopped the run. After the first five minutes, Argentina has outscored France 12 to 5, looked like Argentina was closing the gap, but Kevin Seraphin started dominating the inside and France took a 9 point lead in the quarter.   Despite the lead, Argentina hung around, they didn't get anyone going and made  just one three pointer.  But they made some free throws, tough defense and that was enough.  France leads 32-29 after two quarters of play.

Halftime Stats:
Manu Ginobili (ARG)  8 points
Luis Scola (ARG)        6 points.
Tony Parker (FRA)      4 points, 2 assists.
Nicolas Batum (FRA)  10 points & 6 rebounds.
Kevin Seraphin (FRA)  6 Points

3rd Quarter

The energy level picked up during this quarter, Gelabale continued his hot shooting by making yet another three and a two point field goal, Nando De Colo also made his second triple of the game.  Argentina got more contributions from  Scola, Prigioni and Ginobili, they have been playing with more efficiency than in the first half. 

Manu Ginobili scored 12 points in the quarter, he took over the game, he hit a three, drove to the basket for layups and also made his free throws.  France still leads the game,  55-53 at the end of three.  Manu and De Colo (Both Spurs) are leading their respective teams in scoring.

4th Quarter

After two minutes without any scoring, Nicolas Batum returned from the bench and immediately hit a three pointer, followed by a jump shot by Gelabale.  Manu Ginobili answered France run's by hitting a three, but Tony Parker made two straight baskets to give France a 6 point lead with less than 4 minutes to play.

France took a 67-58 lead and after a few unsuccessful tries Manu Ginobili made a three pointer, Scola got fouled twice and with 1:14 left to play, France lead has being cut to  5.    Tony Parker missed a jumper that would have given France the chance to be up 7 and he didn't, however, after missing the jumper he redeemed himself by stealing the ball right out of Scola's hand and then lobbing the ball to an alley oop to Kevin Seraphin.

Argentina couldn't convert three pointers to bring the lead down, France made their free throws and also got the win  71- 64.   Argentina only scored 11 points in the whole 4th quarter, Tony Parker had 11 in the quarter for France.  Manu Ginobili finished with 26 points

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