MADRID - France upset Spain 65-52 in front of its stunned fans in the quarter-finals of the Basketball World Cup on Wednesday. After dominating its first six games and blowing out France by 24 points in the group phase, Spain appeared to be the main candidate to dethrone the United States in a possible final that would have been a rematch of the past two Olympic gold-medal games. But France defended well and rebounded even better to ruin Spains quest for a title for a second straight summer. Last summer, Tony Parker helped France end Spains quest for a third consecutive European title. This time, Spain had several reasons to believe it would avenge that loss. Parker wasnt playing for France, and Spain had Pau Gasol back in its ranks, besides playing at home. "Its a painful and disappointing defeat," Pau said. "We had such high expectations and had played so well until now." Spain had averaged 88 points per game through its first six wins, all blowouts. But France cut off Spains passing lanes and forced it into solo efforts. Spains guards didnt adjust by looking for Pau and Marc Gasol in the post enough, and then compounded that by missing all but two of their 22 attempts from beyond the three-point arc. "Everyone thought we had won this before it started, but we didnt prepare well for the game and were trying to play catchup the entire way," Spain guard Juan Carlos Navarro said. "They prepared better than we did. We relied on doing what we always do, defend and get out on the break, but our shots didnt fall, and they played with a lot of poise." Boris Diaw scored 15 points and Thomas Heurtel added 13 for a France team which pulled in 50 rebounds to Spains 28. Pau had 17 for Spain, but his brother Marc and Serge Ibaka each went 1-of-7 from the field to combine for just five points. Serbia awaits France on Friday after it routed Brazil 84-56 in the other quarter-final. The U.S. plays Lithuania in the other semifinal in Barcelona on Thursday. Pau scored in the post to spark Spains 12-4 run to open the third period and edge ahead 40-39. A brief scuffle marred that span when Frances Florent Pietrus slapped Sergi Llull in the back of the head after an argument. Pietrus was awarded an unsporstmanlike technical foul. Spain entered the final period with a one-point lead but without any clear plan of attack. Diaw nailed a backbreaking three after France again beat Spain to the offensive boards to take a 51-45 lead and force Juan Orenga to call time-out with 6:41 left. A contested jumper by Pau brought Spain to within three points with under two to play, but Heurtel scored five points to quash the comeback and spark chants for Orengas resignation in a loss that hurt almost as much as the Spanish football teams early elimination from this summers World Cup. Pau left open the possibility that this was his last game for Spain, which he has led to one world championship in 2006, two Olympic silver medals, and two European titles. "You never know when your last game or tournament will be," the new Chicago Bull centre said. "I would like to play until I am 50, but I doubt it. We have great young players coming up and Im sure that we have a good team in the future." Whether or not Pau continues, Spain will likely not have such a chance to try and finally beat the U.S. with Pau now 34, and the Olympics two years away. Serbias result also reversed a group matchup, as Serbia lost to Brazil last Wednesday, when Spain also beat France. This time, Brazil and its trio of NBA centers in Varejao, Tiago Splitter and Nene were ineffective, as Serbia bettered the bigger Brazilians inside and out, and turned a five-point halftime advantage into a rout by outscoring Brazil 29-10 in the third period. Serbia was led by guard Milos Teodosic, who scored 23 points, hit three three-pointers, and made four assists. Shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 12 points, and centers Miroslav Raduljica and Nenad Krstic added 10 each. Varejao and Vieira had 12 points each for Brazil. Paul George Shoes Free Shipping . Sundays game against the Colorado Rapids at B.C. Place Stadium has important implications in determining Major League Soccers playoff picture and will also mark the final game in the career of veteran South Korean defender Young-Pyo Lee. Paul George Shoes From China . 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Radulov scored the lone goal in the shootout, and the Predators edged the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Tuesday night to reach 100 points for the second time in three seasons and fourth in seven. Paul George Shoes Deals .com) - James Harden put the Houston Rockets on his back and willed them to an overtime victory on Thursday.If we were playing "Jeopardy" the answer would be Bronson Arroyo. The question might blow you away, as it did me. Who is the winningest pitcher in the National League since 2006? Yes it is the Reds 36-year-old right hander. Arroyo has chalked up 104 victories since joining Cincinnati in 2006. He also happens to be a free-agent at the end of this season. Im not advocating the Blue Jays go right out and sign him, but maybe they should take a look at the overall success and health of the Reds pitching staff, especially over the last two seasons. A year ago, the Reds only had to use, six starters all season long. Four of the five regulars pitched 200 innings and the other, Mike Leake, reached 179. Oddly enough the other starter was current Blue Jays right hander Todd Redmond, who made all of one start for the Reds. The Reds staff made 98 quality starts and they had an ERA of 3.34, helping boost the club to a 97-65 record. The Blue Jays on the other hand in 2012, had to use 12 starters. They lost three, Kyle Drabek, Drew Hutchison, and Brandon Morrow for a substantial part of the season. The Jays only had 75 quality starts, a staff ERA of 4.64 and not a single pitcher who reached 200 innings. They also finished with a dismal 73-89 record. So have things changed that much this season, for either team? Not really!. The Reds has used eight starters this season, in part because the man whos arguably their ace, Johnny Cueto, has been injured for much of the season. Check out their other four main starters though, Matt Latos is (13-5), Mike Leake (11-5), Arroyo (13-9) and Homer Bailey, who threw a no-hitter earlier this season, is (9-10). All four are on pace to throw over 200 innings. On top of that all four have less than 50 walks apiece. The Reds top prospect, lefty Tony Cingrani came up to fill in for Cueto, and has built a (6-3) record with 16 quality starts in 21 outings. With the exception of Arroyo (36), all of the Reds starters are 27 years old or younger, while Cingrani is only 24. All-together, if you throw in Cuetos five quality starts, the Reds have 89 quality starts in 134 games, which takes a lot of pressure off the bullpen. Cincinnati has only issued 354 walks. The only teams to have allowed fewer in the Senior Circuit are Atlanta and Washington who share the lead with 342. The Blue Jays on the other hand have given up 430 wallks.dddddddddddd The Blue Jays staff ERA is 4.40, exactly one run higher than the Reds. Though R.A Dickey hasnt pitched like a Cy Young winner this time around, he hasnt been a total wash-out either. He has 15 quality starts, and with 182.2 innings, is in easy range of 200 for the campaign. Mark Buehrle, whos been the Jays most consistent and best starter this season, has a 10-7 record and 15 quality starts, tied with Dickey for the team lead. He only needs 28 more innings to crack the 200 mark. Again the injuries have done the Jays staff in. Brandon Morrow, J.A Happ and Josh Johnson have all missed significant time, and Johnson and Morrow are done for the season. Why have the Reds been so successful the last two years while the Jays have not? Hard to say. The Reds play in essentially the same kind of home stadium as the Jays. In other words, fly balls can turn into home runs easily. The Reds try to combat that by employing hard throwing strikeout type pitchers. They also have Bryan Price as their pitching coach, whos reputed to be one of the best in the business. The Blue Jays best two starters this year are Buehrle and Dickey, who dont blow you away with hard stuff. Theyve both had troubles with the long ball, Dickey giving up 29 and Buehrle 20 with the bulk coming at Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays, largely because of the injuries, havent had the power arms to augment them. The Jays also have a rookie pitching coach, at least at this level , in Pete Walker which also may be a factor, but all of the above explains why GM Alex Anthopoulos said this week that his top priority in the off-season is to fix the starting rotation. One brilliant decision the Blue Jays made this season was getting an agreement to put their Triple "A" affiliate in Buffalo in the International League. The Bisons, though unlikely to make the playoffs, drew 16,998 fans for their final home game Thursday evening, on "Fan Appreciation Night". They averaged 8,273 fans per game according to the Buffalo News, which was an increase of 12.25% over 2012, when they were the Mets farm club. It is the largest year to year increase in attendance in their current ballparks history. Just one of the reasons, the Jays have extended their deal with the Bisons and Buffalo for another two years, covering them thru 2016. ' ' '