Eurobasket 2022
France – Hungary: 78-74
One game is not the other, as François l’Embrouille would say. Easy winners of Hungary by 41 points difference (81-40) at the beginning of July, the Blues expected to find a different and much more competitive team for this third group match of Eurobasket 2022. This duel with the The “weakest” opponent of the group on paper even looked like a trap encounter. And even if the players of Vincent Collet ended up winning, they did not master their subject. Or only intermittently. A few sequences of domination, worthy of the status of the France team, interspersed with worrying slumps which we were able to take advantage of Adam Hanga and his teammates to stay in the game. To the point of doubting the vice Olympic champions until the final siren.
The key, to avoid falling against a formation a priori less armed, is to start very strong by showing rigor and concentration on both sides of the floor. However, this is exactly what the Blues are doing. They attacked the match on a 17-5 by causing in particular 4 loss of balls, while circulating the leather in attack like a Guerschon Yabusele still very inspired (17 points, best French scorer this evening). It’s after that it’s gone to peanuts. The coach took advantage of the gap to rotate, which was precisely one of the objectives of the meeting. Except that the substitutes stammered their basketball, even with an 11-0 conceded (21-17). Everything then had to be redone.
The French just had a hard time getting back into it. As soon as they seemed able to take off, they relaxed or they cashed in opposing award-winning baskets. The advantage was only three points at the break (42-39) without really knowing if the EDF was going to end up suffocating Hungary or getting bogged down in an increasingly crappy quagmire.
Back on the field for the start of the second period, the holders have restored order. Rudy Gobert (15 points, 9 rebounds) posed many problems for the opposing defense by dominating under the hoops with his size and athletic qualities. The Blues went 12-0 then 9-0 a little later to count up to 15 lengths ahead (65-50) during the third quarter. Folded case? Well no. Because once again, they failed to maintain the pressure and deliver the blow. The Hungarians took advantage of the largesse in the French defense and the balls lost in attack to come back to two small points in the last minute (74-72)! Fournier did not crack on the line and France finally left with an in-extremis victory.
There is nothing to be completely reassured before facing Bosnia, winner of the defending champions Slovenia today, next Tuesday. In the meantime, the essential is assured with the qualification for the round of 16 of the competition…
