France head coach: "Everything starts now" / News - Basketnews.com

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After his team secured its 3rd straight win, France head coach Vincent Collet stressed the importance of an upcoming quarterfinals stage.

Player of the Game EFF 18 Nando De Colo Points 10 Accuracy 4-4 Rebounds 5 Assists 5

"Everything starts now - when you qualify for the Quarter-Finals. For sure it is better to get this rank and be in the first hat of the draw, but you will still have to play against a good opponent. The Quarter-Final is the turning point. If you win it, then you are one of the best four and with the chance of a medal. This is our goal. What we have done before is now behind us - what is important is what is coming in front of us now. We wait for it with excitement and it is a key moment for all the teams - you have no choice in the Quarter-Finals. You go home or you can go all the way - because even if you lose in the Semi-Finals, you can still get a medal in the third-place game," said Vincent Collet after a win against Iran.

France leading scorer after the group stage Evan Fournier (17.3 PPG) agreed with his coach and remained focused on the upcoming game.

"To be honest, I'm not even focused on the gold medal, just the Quarter-Finals. Any team that we are going to play there will have its strengths and weaknesses, but I can't tell you who I would prefer there because we don't even know who going to be there."

Iran finished their Olympic journey with yet another winless performance. The Asian team hasn't won an Olympic game since 1948.

"They have great players and a shot at the gold medal, so we did a good job of holding our own, other than in that second quarter. I'm happy with it, as we just have to take in this experience, go back home and build on it," said Arsalan Kazemi (11 points and 8 rebounds), adding that he "probably went through six time zones to play five friendly games" before the Olympics, explaining how tough it was for all Iranian athletes to prepare for these Olympics. Arsalan also added that some of his teammates never played in an arena as big as this, so it took them a couple of games just to get used to it.

Iran's head coach Mehran Shahintab was happy with his team's performance and the way his players competed in the Olympic basketball tournament. However, he acknowledged that the opposition was simply better.

"I think they deserved to win. They took up advantage, got to the basket, played faster, and they are at the top of their game. I appreciate my players, they played until the end, did their best, and played hard," Iran head coach Mehran Shahintab

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