The Spain-France quarterfinal meeting ended with a very dirty play by France’s Nicolas Batum. Batum was clearly frustrated and took out his anger on Spain’s Juan Carlos Navarro with this play with just seconds left in the game.
This is the kind of flagrant foul that would likely get you a 5-game suspension in the NBA. After the play, both teams had to be separated, Jose Calderon and Batum in particular got in each other’s faces.
It is kind of unclear why Batum acted this way. He normally has such a calm demeanor it’s hard to imagine him making a play like this. He did struggle from the field in the game going 3-for-12.
I asked Nicolas Batum why he hit Juan-Carlos Navarro in the groin. “I wanted to give him a good reason to flop,” Batum said.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) August 8, 2012
France in particular really struggled especially in the fourth quarter as they were held to just six points. The tougher, more physical team was going to come out on top in this one and Spain proved to be just that down the stretch.
Spain has not been playing their best as of late, losing two games in pool play to Russia and Brazil but perhaps have found their swagger with this win over France.
Spain will advance to the semifinal round where they will have their rematch vs. Russia who beat Lithuania in their quarterfinal matchup earlier today.
Told Batum some won’t think groin shot is in Olympic spirit. Batum: “Do you think if you lost a game on purpose, that’s the Olympic spirit?”
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) August 8, 2012
Topics: 2012 Olympics, France, Juan Carlos Navarro, Nicolas Batum, Spain
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