France Suffers Massive Disappointment as They Are Eliminated from FIBA World Cup

What a nightmare. What a failure. What a shock ! This is perhaps the greatest disappointment in the history of French basketball. While the players, Olympic vice-champions in 2021 and European vice-champions in 2022, proclaimed their ambition to sit on the throne of the international scene, here they are already eliminated from the World Cup after their defeat against the Latvia (86-88), this Sunday in Jakarta. A second setback in two games after the slap received in the opening against Canada (65-95). The Blues go out the back door and it’s a huge disappointment.

The worst is that this match, they held it. They led by 12 points (74-62) in a well-negotiated third quarter. Then they cracked. Defensively, offensively, but above all mentally, like a Nando De Colo sent back to the locker room for a second unsportsmanlike foul, admittedly a bit severe. But even then, France remained in control of the game with eight minutes to go to keep themselves alive. She didn’t last.

20 lost balloons

Trapped by a Latvia which played exactly to its strengths, the same highlights for two days by coach Vincent Collet and his players, namely fast play, long-distance shooting and an ability to ignite a meeting by giving rhythm. The irony is that the Habs offered them the opportunity to practice their preferred basketball. Rather than calming down, temporizing and hardening the game, they accelerated, often in the wrong direction. The result is 20 lost balls – some in crucial moments – 3 more than during the disastrous match against the Canadians.

The French put the ball under a little more often, relying for example on Guerschon Yabusele four possessions in a row at the start of the third quarter, for 9 points scored. This is when they dug a real first gap (63-52) after a very rhythmic and very disputed first half, marked by an insolent address on both sides (53-49).

It was impossible to keep up this pace. Even less against a Latvian team that lives and dies with its three-point shot. Arturs Zagars (22 points) and his partners put 14, just like the France team. Except that the difference is that the players coached by Luca Banchi did not flinch. They believed in it until the end and they took advantage of the mistakes of the opposing defense, which too often let the ball carriers pick up speed and create gaps for open shots behind the arc. Rolands Smits and Davis Bertans put in killer baskets.

Latvia took the lead with 37 seconds remaining

Despite all that, the Blues remained in front almost throughout. It was only 37 seconds from the end, after two shots following a foul by Rudy Gobert, that the Latvians took the lead for the first time in this game. Evan Fournier, heroic in the first half (18 points) and still his team’s top scorer with 27 points, missed his penetrating shot in stride. Yabusele (18 points) failed to push the ball in.

The joy of Latvian supporters during the victory of theirs against France, Sunday August 27, 2023. / World Cup

Credit: Getty Images

Zagars missed one out of two shots after an intentional foul on the next possession and EDF had a final chance to save themselves. Unfortunately, Sylvain Francisco’s three-point attempt failed to find the target, leaving the Latvians to exult in the Indonesia Arena. There is now one match left, against Lebanon, on Tuesday, to save the honor. Finally, for what remains to be saved. Because one year before the Paris Olympic Games, its Olympic Games, the situation is terrible for the French team. This failure risks leaving deep scars.

2023-08-27 16:26:00
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