An update on Utah Jazz players participating in the upcoming Olympic Games–Rudy Gobert, Boris Diaw and Team France falter while Joe Ingles and Raul Neto score.
With basketball competition at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro set to tip-off in less than a week, four Utah Jazz players have taken the court in warm-up games for their national teams. Rudy Gobert and Boris Diaw have been in action for the French, while Joe Ingles and Raul Neto made appearances for Australia and Brazil respectively.
For Team France, the lead-in to the Olympics has left something to be desired. This past weekend, Gobert, Diaw and “Les Bleus” suffered back-to-back losses at an Olympic prep tournament in Argentina, first falling to Bogdan Bogdanovic and Serbia in a 105-88 blowout, followed by a 76-70 loss at the hands of Dario Saric and Croatia.
The French team played without their star, Tony Parker, in both games, but the recent results have been disconcerting nonetheless. France’s Florent Pietrus pulled no punches in expressing disappointment over his squad’s apparent lack of focus in the losses.
From L’Equipe, translated from French–
"“We have not shown the game values that usually make us a formidable team. We let our opponents play their game and do whatever they wanted to on offense and defense. Defense is the identity of the French team. These are just friendly games, of course, but we cannot continue like that. Everyone should be under question, from the starting five, to the players that come off the bench. I hope that we have not forgotten our goal. Let’s go for a medal.”"
For his part, Gobert had a strong effort in the loss to Serbia, leading his team with 16 points. Here are some highlights; of particular relevance to Jazz fans is the way Diaw was able to connect with the Stifle Tower on several occasions for easy buckets in what could be a preview of things to come–
Meanwhile, Ingles returned to the Aussie Boomers after taking some time out from the team to be with his wife, Renae, for the birth of the couples’ twin babies and has put up consecutive strong efforts.
In his first game back, Ingles scored a team-high 16 points in a 68-61 loss to Lithuania. The Jazz wing followed this up with 21 points and six rebounds in a 29-point win over China.
Finally, Neto has been all the rage lately following his outburst against Australia (sans Ingles) earlier this week. The Brazilian was on fire in the game, scoring 17 points in just 19 minutes on the floor and hitting all four of his three-point attempts to lead his team to a 96-67 win over the Boomers in Sao Paulo.
On Sunday, Neto struck again with 11 points, three rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes in a 64-62 win over Lithuania.
RAUL NETO, THE NEW STOCKTON
— Paixão NBA (@paixaonba) July 28, 2016
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While Neto and Ingles are each expected to play a reduced role for the Jazz next season, strong performances in the Olympics could help their case for more minutes.
Olympic basketball competition officially tips off on August 6. France and Australia will compete in Group A with USA Basketball, while the host nation joins Spain and Argentina in Group B.