France (2-1) 76, Serbia (1-2) 75

France’s next game: vs. Venezuela, Friday, Aug. 12

Serbia’s next game: vs. U.S., Friday, Aug. 12

Wednesday’s outing won’t go down as one of the greatest performances of Tony Parker’s illustrious international career. He was there when it mattered most, though, delivering the knockout punch that put away a tough Serbian side and improved France’s odds to advancing past the group stage at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The All-Star point guard had been quiet for most of the afternoon, picking up a couple of quick fouls early, mostly floating around while former San Antonio Spurs teammates Nando de Colo and Boris Diaw (who finished just short of a triple-double, posting 11 points, nine rebounds and nine assists while ostensibly serving as a point power forward for much of the game) ran the show for Vincent Collet’s team, and spending the bulk of the fourth quarter on the bench. But in the final minute, with Serbia holding on to a 75-74 lead, Parker found the ball in his hands on the baseline with the shot clock winding down on a broken French possession. He dribbled to his right against Serbian defender Stefan Markovic, then crossed back to his left, stepped back, and splashed through a deep jumper to beat the buzzer and put France up by one with 31 seconds remaining.

Serbia had a chance to regain the lead, but moved with a surprising lack of urgency into its offensive set. Rather than pushing the pace in hopes of getting multiple bites at the apple, the Serbians (as they had on a couple of previous late possessions) strung out the clock, as ace shooter Bogdan Bogdanovic — a two-time winner of the Euroleague’s Rising Star Award honoring Europe’s best player under 22 years old, who plays professionally in Turkey and is expected to join the Sacramento Kings in 2017 — waited until there were less than 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter to throw a pass aimed at triggering the offense.

But France’s de Colo pounced on that pass, deflecting the ball free with just eight ticks left, effectively ending the game … or, at least, he would have, had he not then decided to try to throw a lob pass to teammate and Charlotte Hornets swingman Nicolas Batum rather than just dribbling out the clock.

Batum couldn’t convert the surprising feed, giving Serbia one last shot with four seconds remaining. But Bogdanovic’s long 3-pointer just missed the mark, giving France a 76-75 victory that improves them to 2-1 in group play in Rio, the same record that will be sported by the loser of Wednesday evening’s matchup between Group A’s lone undefeated squads, the United States and Australia.

Realistically, though, Wednesday’s tilt most likely determined third place in Group A. Whatever happens against the U.S., Australia will be heavily favored in its final two games of group play against winless China and Venezuela, while both Serbia (on Friday) and France (on Sunday) have to play Team USA. That gives Australia what looks like a favorable path to a 4-1 finish to group play, with a head-to-head victory over France already in their pocket.

Unless the Boomers stumble against the cellar-dwellars, and France pulls a whale of an upset on Sunday to avoid a second loss, it’s likely that France will finish third. That would move them into the knockout round, but would put them in a bracket that would likely feature a semifinal meeting with the U.S. On the other hand, finishing fourth in the group — the position Serbia now occupies — means a move into the other half of the bracket, a quarterfinal matchup against the top team from Group B — likely Argentina or Lithuania, though Brazil or Croatia could pounce should one of the top two stumble — and a comparatively safer potential path to the gold medal game. In that sense, then, it’s an open question whether or not winning Wednesday was a good thing for France. (Maybe de Colo knew what he was doing on that wild lob after all.)

Parker’s jumper finished a 6-0 game-closing run that allowed France to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat … which would be more impressive had France not fallen behind by squandering a 20-4 first-quarter lead due to turnovers and defensive difficulties. After falling behind by 16 points, Serbia clawed back into the game behind the shooting of Bogdanovic (10 points, 3-for-4 from 3-point range), the playmaking of point guard Milos Teodosic (10 points, nine assists against two turnovers), and the bruising interior play of Miroslav Raduljica (16 points on 7-for-9 shooting).

Serbia led by as many as seven in the final frame, and by five after a pair of Markovic free throws with 3:25 remaining. But Serbia went cold down the stretch, failing to generate points on their final seven possessions, and de Colo — who, closing-seconds brain-cramp aside, was brilliant on Wednesday, finishing with a game-high 22 points on 6-for-10 shooting — took advantage of the defensive failings of his CSKA Moscow teammate Teodosic, getting into the paint for free throws and layups that got France back within a single point in the final minute. Parker, as he has so many times for France over the years, took it from there.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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