Basketball - Spain get their groove back against France

By Mary Milliken RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Spain steamrolled over European rivals France on Wednesday with a convincing 92-67 win that could quiet concerns that the veteran team were past their prime as they head to the men's Olympic basketball semi-finals. Ranked second behind the United States, Spain got off to a bad start in the Olympic tournament only to come back with four straight wins and increasing cohesion on the court. Six-times National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Tony Parker of France conceded that Spain produced great form Wednesday. "Spain is one of the best teams of the last seven to eight years," said a wistful Parker, 34, after he played his final game for France. "They have a lot of experience and they showed it tonight." A team bristling with NBA players, Spain may face the United States in the semi-finals on Friday if the struggling Americans defeat Argentina later on Wednesday. "We are in the perfect spot to be in the semi-finals," said Spanish point guard Sergio Rodriguez, noting that "we are playing in the Olympics, we have to enjoy it". Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said his team executed their game plan perfectly on Wednesday and he gave a lot of credit to the team's elder statesman, NBA All-Star centre Pau Gasol, for creating space for his teammates to play aggressively. "The rest of the team loves him and accepts his leadership," Scariolo said of the 36-year-old Gasol, who will join Parker at the San Antonio Spurs for the upcoming NBA season after spending two years with the Chicago Bulls. The top scorer for Spain with 23 points was fellow Chicago Bull Nikola Mirotic. Half of the 24 players in Wednesday's game compete in the elite NBA, seven of them from Spain and five from France. Despite the familiarity that comes with a classic rivalry and shared time in the NBA, the fifth-ranked French were quickly outfoxed by the Spaniards. "We suffered a lot for their aggressiveness," said French coach Vincent Collet. Collet, who has coached the national team since 2009, said it was too early to know if he will continue at the helm. "We must digest the defeat, it's tough for me," said Collet. In their opening games in Rio, Spain lost narrowly to both Croatia and Brazil, a calamitous start that Scariolo attributed to a "terrible training camp" due to several absences. "We regret it, but it's over," said Scariolo. "Let's look forward." He refused to be drawn in to speculation about how his team would fare against the United States, for the moment just a hypothetical foe. But Collet had his own opinion about the Americans, who are riding a 22-game Olympic win streak in their quest for a third straight Olympic gold medal. He thinks the United States will "play differently tonight" and show why they are still the team to fear. (Additional reporting by Steve Keating; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Mark Lamport-Stokes)