Nicolas Batum apologizes for dirty play on Spain’s Juan Carlos Navarro

Nicolas Batum took to Twitter to apologize for punching Juan Carlos Navarro in the groin in the final minutes of France’s loss to Spain on Wednesday.

A fine or a suspension has not been issued. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports asked Batum after the game why he hit Navarro:

“I wanted to give him a good reason to flop,” Batum said.

France had scored six points total in the fourth quarter, including one stretch where the team didn’t score for more than seven minutes.

It was the second dirty play for Olympic basketball this week. Carmelo Anthony of the U.S. team took a shot to the groin from Argentina’s Facundo Campazzo during America’s win on Monday. Anthony said after the game it was “uncalled for” while Tyson Chandler, Anthony’s teammate on the Olympic team and the New York Knicks, called it a “cheap shot.”

Spain will now play Russia in the semifinals on Friday for the right to play the winner of U.S.-Argentina for the gold medal.

I want to apologize for my stupid act at the end, I showed a bad image of France and myself, Congrats to team Spain.—
Nicolas Batum (@nicolas88batum) August 08, 2012

I asked Nicolas Batum why he hit Juan-Carlos Navarro in the groin. "I wanted to give him a good reason to flop," Batum said.—
Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) August 08, 2012

Footage of Batum’s hit on Wednesday can be seen below.