France is loaded with NBA talent — Boris Diaw, Rudy Gobert, Nicolas Batum, Evan Fournier — but Tony Parker is the guy that makes it all work.
And he was making it work against Latvia on Tuesday.
He finished with 18 points to lead France to the quarterfinals win — and that included dropping nine in a row at one point, which you can see above. The French win sets up a rematch with Spain — and the winner gets a ticket for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Expect Parker to step up his game.
By the way, for all the talk of LaMarcus Aldridge and Tim Duncan in San Antonio, Parker is just as central to making the Spurs offense work as well.