After Finland's 92-86 victory over Serbia on Saturday, it was Georgia's turn to shock the world by eliminating the French team in the Last 16. It was a totally deserved victory for Aleksandar Dzikic's men, who managed to subdue Les Bleus and control their lead for the entire game, until delivering the fatal blow in the final two minutes of the match.
For France, the shock was inevitably huge, even though only five players from the Olympic final were in the squad. They are a young team, but this scenario was still hard to imagine.
Georgia showed in the first quarter that it was going to be a physical battle, led by Tornike Shengelia (24 points, eight rebounds), who was on fire in the opening minutes. The future Barcelona player was skilful under the basket, from mid-range and three-point range, and gave his team a quick seven-point advantage (16-9).
He was joined by Kamar Baldwin (24 points, four rebounds), who also scored baskets to give Georgia a 26-22 lead going into the second quarter. Fortunately for France, Guerschon Yabusele (12 points, three rebounds) was on hand to keep his side in touch.
The French toughened up and quickly clawed their way back with two consecutive baskets at the start of the second quarter (26-26). But Georgia got their head back in the game, thanks largely to Sandro Mamukelashvili (14 points, 11 rebounds) and an excellent three-pointer to move back to 33-26.
France fight back before falling to Shengelia
Their lead remained at four points for some time, as Les Bleus struggled to shoot from both behind the line and from mid-range. Nonetheless, France's defence held up well, and the Georgians had a tough time of it.
Frederic Fauthoux's men clawed their way back into the game and took the lead for the first time (35-33). But Baldwin then decided to put the ball in the net again, giving his side a three-point lead, before seeing his team go into the locker room with a one-point lead (38-37).
At the restart, Les Bleus went in with very different intentions. The reason? A strategic change on the part of the Les Bleus coach: Sylvain Francisco took the place of Theo Maledon, with the aim of dominating the Georgian defence.
And it worked... just long enough for the opposition to be slightly flustered. The turning point came when Shengelia, who had not missed a shot in the first half, missed his first free throw.
Mamukelashvili, again with a three-pointer, restored Georgia's 44-40 lead. The Georgians once again got into the heads of the French, particularly in defence. It was a very tough, old-fashioned game, based on contact and fighting for rebounds.
With this strategy, Georgia regained control. The Baldwin-Shengelia-Mamukelashvili trio gave Georgia a 58-54 advantage at the end of the quarter, before stepping on the gas.
Nothing changed at the start of the fourth. Georgia led by as much as nine points, but France wanted to try the impossible, and Fauthoux fielded Francisco, Maledon, Yabusele, Okobo and Jaiteh.
With these five men, Les Bleus gradually worked their way back into the game until they levelled things up with three minutes remaining, 68-68.
The problem was that even when they were down, Georgia managed to get back up, thanks again to Tornike Shengelia, the star of the game. A devastating three-pointer allowed the Georgians to breathe and regain control of the final minutes, until they won and eliminated France.
