After starting out pool play 0-2, the Spanish national team won its last three games of pool play, and that momentum carried into the quarterfinals on Wednesday against France.
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For 16 years Parker has been the face of French basketball, inspiring a generation of young Frenchmen along the way, some of them, like the “Stifle Tower” Rudy Gobert, his team mate in Rio. He is the most important player in French basketball history.
“It was my last game, I’m not going to change my mind on that”.
“I’m obviously disappointed that we lost the game and think we could have done a lot better but Spain was just great tonight”. We made a decision to stop Pau, and [Nikola] Mirotic goes off.
“When he learns when to shoot and when to play for the team”, Ricky Rubio said of Mirotic, “it’s unstoppable”. Spain rolled into the semis and a potential matchup with the US with a 25-point victory over their European rivals. When the game was over, he had connected on 5 of 8 attempts from beyond the arc.
“Let me just say that I’ve been honored to play against Tony Parker throughout so many years on the national team”, Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said.
“I’ve been very blessed – that’s all I can say”.
The 34-year-old Parker has played with men’s senior national team since 2001, accomplishing much alongside former Spurs teammate Boris Diaw, including a bronze finish in the 2013 FIBA World Cup and a gold medal in the 2015 Euro competition. “Those 15 years, all the championships, all the records, everything that we accomplished, it’s just stuff when I retire I can cherish and show my kids everything that we won with the Spurs”.
The awards taken from 16 years of manning the French basketball ramparts are almost as numerous but no less meaningful.
That was the year that France finished third at the EuroBasket in Belgrade, although even that experience could very easily have been sweeter because Greece pulled off a dramatic comeback to beat the French in the Semi-Finals.
“Tony Parker”, French coach Vincent Collet said, “is the best French player for ever”. Overall, just great experiences.
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“For me, it makes my job easy, with Pau and LaMarcus [Aldridge], it’s going to be great and, like I said earlier, Spain had a great generation”.
