FIBA World Cup: Knicks' Evan Fournier Makes History For Eliminated France
For all the team's flaws, New York Knicks shooting guard Evan Fournier was at least able to help France say "au revoir" from FIBA Basketball World Cup group play in style.
Done in by consecutive defeats to Canada and Latvia that led to their elimination from championship contention, France was able to snag a consolation prize in Group H action in Jakarta with an 85-79 win over Lebanon. With 17 points in the win, Fournier became the all-time leading French scorer in World Cup play at 285, passing teammate Nicolas Batum (LA Clippers).
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With his final outing in pool play, Fournier, long-exiled from the Knicks' rotation, wraps the Group H trio with an average of 21.7 points.
Personal history likely brings Fournier and the French (1-2) no peace as their championship dreams at the World Cup are officially dashed. Prior to its elimination in an upset loss to Latvia, France entered as a heavy favorite to advance after consecutive third-place finishes in the World Cup and a silver medal at the last Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
But even one final game against a Lebanon team making its first World Cup appearance since 2010 was no picnic, as the outcome was in doubt until the middle stages of the final period.
Lebanon (0-3) lingered primarily thanks to a 29-point outing from Wael Arakji but a 12-3 run put France up nine with just over three minutes remaining. Guerschon Yabusele led France with 18 points while Batum had a dozen to end the night three behind Fournier on the World Cup scoring list. Destined for the consolation pools, France held out both Moustapha Fall and Rudy Gobert (Minnesota) while Mathias Lessort has already been shut down.
"Playing against Batum, Fournier, Nando (de Colo), Yabusele, all these French guys that we respect a lot, is an honor," Arakji said in the aftermath, per FIBA's official site. "I thought we had them for a second, but they just have so much experience and they knew how to finish the game."
Both France and Lebanon have been stationed in Group P in the consolation pools along with Iran and the third-place finisher from Group G (which will be either Brazil or Ivory Coast). Fournier and the French close things out with a two-game slate beginning on Thursday against Iran.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
