The French basketball team lost on the wire against Australia (78-74), this Sunday in Tokyo, for its seventh and last preparation match before the World Cup in Asia (August 25-September 10) . This is his only setback in these friendly matches.
The Blues raced in the lead throughout the game before being overtaken by the “Boomers” 1 minute 30 from the end of the match. The French had however started on foot thanks to Evan Fournier, on fire and author of 12 points in the first quarter, won 27-19 by his team.
Nicolas Batum, who had been spared Thursday against Japan, played again on Sunday but for a relatively short time (13 minutes). The French maintained their lead at halftime (39-31). But the Australians, the world’s third nation in the Fiba ranking, came back strong in the third quarter, thanks in particular to Josh Giddey, the leader of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Start of the World Cup on Friday against Canada
The Blues have also multiplied the balls lost during this period: 10, against only 2 for the Australians. The suspense was still total at the end of the third quarter (58-56 for France). The two sides went blow for blow late in the game but it was the Australians who went ahead and were not caught.
The France team will fly next week to Jakarta, where it will start the World Cup by facing Canada on Friday, then Latvia (August 27) and Lebanon (August 29).
