In the second group phase France won their first two matches against Turkey, and Lithuania, before falling to Spain. The result was enough to book a place into the quarter-finals. There, France battled Greece with a chance to reach the semis on the line. The team eventually escaped with a 64–56 victory. France needing one more win to put themselves in position to play for the title, first had to get past Andrei Kirilenko and Russia. The two teams played a really close game throughout, but France did just enough to place themselves in prime position to move on.