Getty France's Evan Fournier drives to the basket during the international basketball game between France and Australia.
Disgruntled New York Knicks guard Evan Fournier exploded for 29 points, but it was not enough to avert a France loss to Australia 78-74 on Sunday in their final warmup game for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
Australia rallied from a 70-66 deficit within the final three minutes of the game to score the come-from-behind win over the 2019 FIBA World Cup silver medalist.
Trailing 74-72 in the last 14.4 seconds, France still had a chance, but Fournier missed a wide-open corner 3 that sealed their only loss in seven tuneup games.
France got off to a hot start behind Fournier, who had eight of his team’s first 13 points. His alley-oop pass to Rudy Gobert gave France a 15-5 lead in the opening minutes of the first quarter.
The French held a 39-31 halftime lead, but the Boomers came storming back in the third quarter to close the gap, 58-56, setting up the thrilling finish.
A Gobert basket off the post gave France its last lead, 72-71, before Josh Giddey and Patty Mills teamed up to put Australia ahead for good.
Fournier added three rebounds and three assists as he came three points shy of his international career-high in scoring.
Evan Fournier vs Australia highlights, 29 points on 12-15 shooting. FIBA Fournier is real
France will open their FIBA World Cup campaign on August 25 in Jakarta, Indonesia facing Canada, pitting Fournier against his Knicks teammate RJ Barrett.
Fournier vowed to use the tournament as his launchpad to rebuild his value after getting buried on the Knicks bench last season.
RJ Barrett Benched for Rest
Barrett played only 13 minutes, all in the first half, during Canada’s 94-88 loss to the Dominican Republic on August 18 in their final warm-up game for the FIBA World Cup.
The decision to sit Barrett and the rest of Canada’s starters came on the heels of back-to-back overtime victories over Germany and Spain, where the Knicks rising star led them with heroic performances.
Despite the limited minutes against Karl-Anthony Towns and the Dominicans, Barrett still finished with 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting, adding five rebounds, two assists, and one steal.
Knicks, Heat ‘Waiting’ for Joel Embiid
The Knicks will have stiff competition in a potential blockbuster trade for Joel Embiid if the reigning MVP asks out amid the turmoil in Philadelphia.
“Everyone’s circling, waiting. The Knicks and Miami are keeping an eye on everything going on,” a league source told Yahoo Sports’s Vincent Goodwill.
The 76ers superstar has not yet requested a trade, though he pondered about a future elsewhere publicly for the first time during his interview at the Uninterrupted Film Festival in July.
“I just want to win a championship. Whatever it takes. I don’t know where that’s going to be, whether it’s in Philly or anywhere else,” Embiid said.
The Knicks and the rest of the league are keenly awaiting how the James Harden drama ends that could impact Embiid’s future in Philadelphia.
Harden kept the pressure on the 76ers to trade him after publicly lashing out at their general manager Daryl Morey.
“Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden said Monday during his Adidas tour in China. “Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar, and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”