Basketball: a year ago, Nicolas Batum released one of the most beautiful counterattacks in the history of French basketball

“Jordanesque”. This is how the famous commentator George Eddy could have qualified this action of Nicolas Batum, a year ago at the Tokyo Olympics. France faced Slovenia in the semi-finals (90-89).

Not just any opponent

The great Slovenia, that of the young prodigy Luka Doncic (superstar with Dallas in the NBA), the one who swept Dennis Schröder’s Germany in the quarter-finals, 94 to 70. The challenge was simple: a place in the final against the USA , an absolute Holy Grail.

But it will be neither the phenomenal triple double of Luka Doncic (16 points, 10 rebounds, 18 assists), nor the 25 points of Nando de Colo who will be remembered from the meeting. It is a single action, which made thousands of French supporters stand up in front of their screens.

Mythical Action

20 seconds from the end of the match, Luka Doncic recovers a rebound on a missed shot at the head of the racket from Nando de Colo. France then leads by a small point, 90 to 89.

The Slovenian leader calmly brings the ball up to the three-point line, there are then ten seconds to play. Thanks to a good screen from his pivot Mike Tobey, Doncic finds himself in a “mismatch” on Rudy Gobert.

But instead of playing his one-on-one, the 22-year-old gets rid of the ball with a pass to winger Klemen Prepelič. A good first step, and the player, who plays for Valencia in a club, finds himself under the basket for an easy “lay-up”. But that was without taking into account the resilience of the “Batman”, the captain of the France team Nicolas Batum.

A good “jump”, perfect timing, the ball crashes against the board, France exults. A page of history had just been written.