2012 Olympics: Parker’s 17 points propels France past Argentina

London practically played host to a Spurs intrasquad scrimmage. And naturally, the team with more Spurs players were victorious.

Tony Parker, still adjusting to goggle life, scored 17 points in a Tuesday night Group A match-up with Argentina. The Spurs star point guard, along with Nicolas Batum’s 14 and Mickaël Gelabale’s 13, France knocked off formerly 1-0 Argentina, 71-64.

It was a great display by Parker in the fourth, helping make the final push to seal the deal on Argentina with 11 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Argentina struggled right out of the gate, and France took advantage. The size of Boris Diaw, Ronny Turiaf, and Kevin Seraphin were apparent problems for Argentina. Though it didn’t stop Manu Ginobili from going off for 26 points.

France’s nine-point lead dwindled in the second, but Argentina never took full control of the game. In a low-scoring affair, with plenty of free throws, Argentina took the lead a few times, but France always responded.

Parker’s French national team will be pleased to see their schedule get a lot easier after opening with the United States and Argentina. However, today’s loss is a big blow to Ginobili’s squad.

France really made Argentina work for everything, and following Argentina’s win over Lithuania, it was hard to expect another great shooting performance like the one they had Sunday.

Delfino was simply off of his game. Scola put in 16, but Phoenix’s new power forward and Ginobili were the only ones in double figures for Argentina.

Hopefully, Argentina will have a better outing with Tunisia. However, France’s remaining schedule is very manageable, and put them in a position to finish second in Pool A.

Tip-off for Argentina-Tunisia is set for 8:30 am CST following Australia-China, and after Ginobili take on Tunisia, Tiago Splitter and Brazil will face Russia.