France vs. Croatia: FIBA World Cup 2014 Round of 16 Score and Twitter Reaction

Saturday, France put to bed any lingering questions as to how the team would perform in the knockout stages with a 69-64 win over Croatia at the Palacio de Los Deportes in Madrid, Spain, spearheaded by breakout performances from key contributors.

After a 3-2 finish in group play, noticeably weaker than in recent years due to Tony Parker's absence, Nicolas Batum finally assumed the role of leader for the French side and scored 14 points on a 5-of-13 effort.

Evan Fournier unexpectedly erupted off the bench for 13 points, four rebounds and an assist, while starter Thomas Heurtel floundered under the pressure until late in the contest (10 points, four assists). Captain Boris Diaw took a backseat to his hot teammates and added three points, five rebounds and four assists.

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
France	7	16	23	23	69
Croatia	15	7	12	30	64

For Croatia, the only saving grace came in the paint, with wing Bojan Bogdanovic attacking the basket to score a game-high 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting with six rebounds. Center Ante Tomic was a pleasant surprise, too, with 17 points and six boards. They helped Croatia win the rebounding battle 37-35.

As Grantland.com's Zach Lowe pointed out, Croatia made things interesting in the final frame, but coaching and overall talent seemed to do it in by the final buzzer:

Before the game, Diaw talked about France's mindset, as captured by FIBA.com. "Defense is definitely one of the key aspects of our team. That's what we have to build our victory on. It starts with defense and then the fast break and then sharing the ball," he said. "But defense is the biggest thing. We have to be smart with the defensive game plan."

For one quarter, it appeared to be an ill-advised approach.

Croatia got out to an early 15-7 advantage in part because of a horrible shooting effort from its adversary but mostly because Bogdanovic continued to carry the team on his back.

The 2011 NBA second-round pick—who had combined with Dario Saric (who finished with just four points and eight boards) to average more than 33 points per game during the group stage—scored nine of his team's points in the opening frame. Mark Woods of Britball.com noted that Bogdanovic appears to have the look of an NBA contributor:

Unfortunately for Bogdanovic and his side, though, he only posted two points in the second frame, and Croatia wound up behind at the half.

Why? Fournier, the No. 20 overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, took things over.

Fournier scored as many points (seven) as the entire Croatian side in the second quarter, with the highlight being a stunning effort best explained by CBSSports.com's Zach Harper:

The third quarter was more of the same as France outscored Croatia by 11, with Fournier surely causing many to forget Parker's absence, as Woods mused:

Croatia did not simply throw in the towel, though, which made for quite a nail-biting final frame. The size of Tomic and others gave the French squad fits, as illustrated by NBA.com's John Schuhmann:

Due to sloppy play and untimely misses by the French side, Croatia came back within two points of the lead with less than a minute left in regulation, but as Sportando detailed, Bogdanovic could not complete his epic performance with what might have been a game-winning shot:

France will take on the winner of Saturday's Spain-Senegal clash on Wednesday, which gives the team plenty of time to prepare for the home stretch as the tournament crowns a winner next weekend.

For French head coach Vincent Collet, a rematch with the hosts has been the motivation for his team after a blowout at the hands of Spain in the group stage.

He told the media before Saturday's contest, per FIBA.com: "If we win [against Croatia], then there's a 99 percent chance to meet Spain again. But we want to do it. The goal is to go as far as we can go. We know we will have a chance against Croatia."

With the emergence of Batum and Fournier, not to mention the leadership and potential for strong production from Diaw, France is suddenly very much a threat in what might prove to be a new beginning for the team on the international stage.

Note: Stats and info via ESPN unless otherwise specified.