MANILA: Tony Parker will be singing his international career swan song in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics next month.
He made sure of that on Sunday night.
With France under siege all game long from a Canada five that played with all its got, Parker took over in the fourth quarter and almost singlehandedly keyed an 83-74 victory to take Les Bleus to yet another Olympic stint.
The 6-foot-2 superstar point guard of the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA scored 13 straight points when the game was on the line, making the title game of the Manila Olympic Qualifying Tournament a show all his own to the delight of a big Mall of Asia Arena crowd.
“He gave us a huge lift,” France coach Vincent Collet said of his prized point guard, who will quit playing internationally after this season.
Parker finished with 26 points, 15 of them coming in the payoff frame as France booked the last berth to the Games’ 12-team main draw, following Serbia and Croatia which topped qualifiers that happened at the same time in Belgrade and Italy, respectively.
Nando de Colo shot 22 points and was later adjudged as the tournament MVP, winning the award over Parker, New Zealand’s Corey Webster and Canada’s Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson.
“We really wanted this and we played our hearts out,” de Colo told reporters on the way back to the team dugout, leaving the playing arena that was filled with red-white-and blue balloons and confetti that dropped from the rafters right after the final buzzer.
Canada fought hard behind Joseph and Melvin Ejim only for Parker to have an answer each time the Canadians tried turning the game around.
The last five of those 13 consecutive points came in the form of a three-pointer that beat the shotclock and two free throws off Anthony Bennett with 67 seconds to go which made it 75-66.
And when Canada sued for time to map out a last-gasp stand, Parker went back to their bench and let out a huge yell, showing emotion for the first time in the tournament, as the crowd roared with him in approval.
Joseph paced the Canadians with 20 points but was held to just four in the fourth period, even losing his cool with seconds left by giving de Colo a cheap shot and opening a slight cup on the French gunner’s upper lip.
That incident was the second time that things almost got out of hand, as Tristan Thompson also decked de Colo in the previous play after a rugged battle for a rebound underneath.
De Colo made a total of four free throws because of those fouls and opened up an 81-68 lead with just over 30 seconds remaining.
France ground out the win despite being outrebounded terribly, 26-35, cashing in on the Canadians’ 21 turnovers the French converted to 21 total points.
Canada fell because Joseph and Ejim failed to get enough offensive support, finishing as the only players in twin digits for their side.
Boris Diaw fired nine points but was a steadying presence underneath for the French, who have played in the Olympics each time since the 1948 edition in London.
Diaw, who on Thursday was traded by San Antonio to Utah, made all of his points from the three-point area.
He made sure of that on Sunday night.
With France under siege all game long from a Canada five that played with all its got, Parker took over in the fourth quarter and almost singlehandedly keyed an 83-74 victory to take Les Bleus to yet another Olympic stint.
The 6-foot-2 superstar point guard of the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA scored 13 straight points when the game was on the line, making the title game of the Manila Olympic Qualifying Tournament a show all his own to the delight of a big Mall of Asia Arena crowd.
“He gave us a huge lift,” France coach Vincent Collet said of his prized point guard, who will quit playing internationally after this season.
Parker finished with 26 points, 15 of them coming in the payoff frame as France booked the last berth to the Games’ 12-team main draw, following Serbia and Croatia which topped qualifiers that happened at the same time in Belgrade and Italy, respectively.
Nando de Colo shot 22 points and was later adjudged as the tournament MVP, winning the award over Parker, New Zealand’s Corey Webster and Canada’s Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson.
“We really wanted this and we played our hearts out,” de Colo told reporters on the way back to the team dugout, leaving the playing arena that was filled with red-white-and blue balloons and confetti that dropped from the rafters right after the final buzzer.
Canada fought hard behind Joseph and Melvin Ejim only for Parker to have an answer each time the Canadians tried turning the game around.
The last five of those 13 consecutive points came in the form of a three-pointer that beat the shotclock and two free throws off Anthony Bennett with 67 seconds to go which made it 75-66.
And when Canada sued for time to map out a last-gasp stand, Parker went back to their bench and let out a huge yell, showing emotion for the first time in the tournament, as the crowd roared with him in approval.
Joseph paced the Canadians with 20 points but was held to just four in the fourth period, even losing his cool with seconds left by giving de Colo a cheap shot and opening a slight cup on the French gunner’s upper lip.
That incident was the second time that things almost got out of hand, as Tristan Thompson also decked de Colo in the previous play after a rugged battle for a rebound underneath.
De Colo made a total of four free throws because of those fouls and opened up an 81-68 lead with just over 30 seconds remaining.
France ground out the win despite being outrebounded terribly, 26-35, cashing in on the Canadians’ 21 turnovers the French converted to 21 total points.
Canada fell because Joseph and Ejim failed to get enough offensive support, finishing as the only players in twin digits for their side.
Boris Diaw fired nine points but was a steadying presence underneath for the French, who have played in the Olympics each time since the 1948 edition in London.
Diaw, who on Thursday was traded by San Antonio to Utah, made all of his points from the three-point area.
