The Americans never even saw the blue-white-red ballers coming.
The United States men’s national basketball team suffered a shocking loss on Wednesday night to France’s team in the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Cup.
France, led by a few star players that shine across the Atlantic in the NBA, Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert, beat Team USA, 89-79, after rallying in the fourth quarter to come back from a seven-point deficit.
Fournier brought in 22 points, Gobert had 21, and Nando de Colo threw for 18. Frank Ntilikina, Nicolas Batum, and Vincent Poirier were the other NBA jersey-touting players to put points up for their home country of France.
The loss to the French truly was shocking. Dating back to 2006, Team USA hasn’t lost a match in 58 games of FIBA and Olympic play. The squad brought home Olympic Gold in 2008, 2012 and 2016, and the World Cup title five times (1954, 1986, 1994, 2010, 2014).
Before being eliminated, the U.S. team managed to qualified for the 2020 Olympics.
France will play Argentina in the semifinals on Friday. The U.S. will play in the consolation bracket against Serbia on Thursday night.
