Game Summary

Turning point: Boris Diaw scored on three straight possessions to turn a tie game into a 61-57 lead. Russia did not get closer than one point the rest of the way.

Hero: Boris Diaw - his three-possession stretched capped off a fine showing all game to keep France in rhythm offensively.

Stats: France won despite making just 15 of 28 free throws while out-rebounding Russia 39-23.

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The NBA trio of Tony Parker, Boris Diaw and Ronny Turiaf were too much as France remained perfect at EuroBasket 2009, beating defending champions Russia 69-64 to take top honors in Group B.

Ronnie Turiaf combined with Tony Parker and Boris Diaw for 54 points.

The three stars combined for 54 points with Diaw leading the way with 19 points and Turiaf collecting 18 points and 14 rebounds for the 3-0 French, who out-rebounded Russia 39-23 including 15 offensive rebounds.

"We played our best game of the tournament. We defended at the same level. But we played much better on offense. We moved the ball much better and found some good situations," said France coach Vincent Collet.

"We really controlled what we wanted to do, committing only 12 turnovers. We dominated the boards. And that was very important for the game."

Turiaf added: "It was a tough game, very hard for both teams. We stayed focused for 40 minutes and played together and we are very happy to have beaten a tough Russian team."

Russia coach David Blatt was impressed that his team even was in the game after looking at the final statistics in front of reporters - including making just 12 of 20 free throws and giving up all the offensive rebounds.

"It's amazing we were in a position to win that game. That just speaks to our character and our ability to hang in there. With the kind of foul shooting we got and giving up 15 offensive rebounds, the sisters of the poor should beat us," said Blatt, whose team will advance along with France and Germany or Latvia to the Qualifying Round.

Russia, who dropped to 1-2, were led by 13 points from Kelly McCarty. Nikita Kurbanov came off the bench to score 12 points and Vitalii Fridzon added 11 points.

McCarty started the game in fine form, hitting a jumper and two three-pointers while Turiaf scored eight points in helping France jump ahead 14-10.

McCarty had to be helped off the floor with 3:32 left in the first quarter after getting hit hard on a drive to the basket.

But the Russian defense, especially Timofey Mozgov and his four first quarter blocked shots, helped keep Blatt's men in the game and Mozgov's basket even gave Russia a 17-15 lead after one period.

The second quarter saw Fridzon and Andrey Vorontsevich nail three-balls in helping Russia build a 28-21 advantage. France worked on pushing the ball after missed long shots and Collet's men chipped away at the lead and eventually pulled ahead 33-32 on Diaw's baby hook shot.

McCarty re-entered the game and made three free throws as the result of a technical foul on the French bench and Russia led 35-34 at intermission.

The Russians again used some long range shooting to pull ahead 47-40. Parker however drained back-to-back triples and Diaw converted twice more in the paint for a 52-51 French lead after three quarters.

Fridzon's three-ball knotted the game at 55-55 before Diaw came up with three straight baskets in building a 61-57 advantage. Kurbanov stole the ball from Parker for a break-away dunk to make it a one-point game.

But Russia went scoreless over the final 3:38 in the loss.

Timofey Mozgow (Russia):

"The game was very tough. Just at the end our opponents were a little better and won the game. I am sorry about the game, but this is a sport. For me it was a great experience to play against a few very good players from NBA."

Ronny Turiaf (France):

"It was a tough game, very hard for both teams. We stayed focused for 40 minutes, we played together and we are very happy with beating a very strong Russian team."

David Blatt (Russia Coach):

"Congratulations to the French team. Both teams played hard, both teams were in position to win the game. We  rebounded badly, we turned ball over more, but on the other hand, in the third quarter we controlled the game. Statistically it doesn't make sense. France showed their great experience, they led relatively consisted game during whole 40 minutes."

Vincent Collet (France Coach):

"I am very glad because we beat a very strong Russian team. For now it was the toughest and our best game in this tournament. We played much better on offense than yesterday. We moved a lot and found good situations. The best thing that we've is controlling our  game. We knew all the time what we should do with the ball. We had only 12 turnovers, we dominated boards what was the key to win."   

Undefeated France and defending champions Russia have both already advanced to the EuroBasket 2009 Qualifying Round from Group B, but they face off in Gdansk with first place still up for grabs.

They both come into the game with plenty of issues they would like to even out in their final game of the Preliminary Round.

France have struggled mightily offensively, shooting a shade lower than 40 percent from the field. Vincent Collet's team could not get into their half-court set against Latvia and did not find any sort of rhythm until they used their defense to spark some open-court baskets.

That eventually led to Boris Diaw and Nando De Colo both knocking down back-to-back three-pointers to bring France back from a 10-point third quarter deficit after which the defense shut down Latvia the rest of the way.

And just like the less-than-pretty game against Latvia, the showdown against Russia promises to be a defensive battle. Russia have the second-best opponent field goal percentage at 36.4 percent while France are third-best at 36.5 percent.

Russia meanwhile have been forced to play more small ball with their low post duo of Timofey Mozgov and Dmitry Sokolov have combined for 26 points, nine rebounds, 17 fouls committed and three foul outs in 44 total minutes.

But Russia have made nearly 43 percent of their three-pointers to keep themselves in both games thus far.

Russian coach David Blatt would also like to see Kelly McCarty come closer to the 24 points he scored in the opener than the 12 points against Germany. But McCarty struggled to get his shot off against the longer German Robin Benzing and his next defender will likely be athletic French wing Nicolas Batum.

Head to Head: Russia hold a 5-2 all-time series record against France. The two teams have faced off in six of the last seven EuroBaskets. In the last two tournaments - 2007 and 2003 - the game was the quarter-finals with Russia winning 75-71 on their way to winning the 2007 title after France had won 76-69 in the 2003 final eight.

Last Time Out: France booked their spot in the Qualifying Round with a 60-51 victory over Latvia to improve to 2-0. Russia dropped to 1-1 with a 76-73 loss against Germany.

Key Match-up: Sergey Bykov vs. Tony Parker.  Tony Parker waited until the second half but blew past both Germany and Latvia, scoring France's final 11 and 10 points, respectively. Can Bykov slow down the NBA star? Or will he be Parker's next victim?

X-Factor: Sergey Monya.  With Mozgov and Sokolov having huge problems staying on the court, the Russian forward Monya has been forced to play more power forward - and even center - even though he is more a small forward player. And against the French, Monya will likely need a big game from Monya to have a chance.

Key stat: 56.6. That is France's free throw percentage after two games - a fact that must eat at coach Vincent Collet's nerves. A bit more made free throws would help France rely less on Parker.

Sounding off: "If we play right and we play 40 minutes with intelligence and some more intensity over the course of the game we can give them a fight. I'm trying to think about the quarter-finals two years ago - I'm trying to think about something happy. Like my friend Charles Barton says: Every game has a life of its own." -Russia Coach David Blatt