Disaster for the France team. Landed in Indonesia with dreams of a world title in mind, the Blues will not even see the second round of the World Cup, after one of the biggest fiascos in their history. Slapped by Canada (65-95) on Friday, they had to beat Latvia at all costs to avoid taking the door.
Vincent Collet’s players led for more than 38 minutes, never taking shelter for good, and ended up paying for their 20 ball losses and their porous defense in the dying seconds (86-88). France will play a match without stake against Lebanon on Tuesday then two classification matches without interest before leaving Indonesia.
17
The France team cannot hope to finish better than 17th in the World Cup, its worst international result since the start of Vincent Collet’s mandate.
In the lead but never safe
A huge disappointment as the Blues raced in the lead for more than 38 minutes. Already author of 21 points against Canada, Evan Fournier remained boiling in the first quarter with 15 points including an award-winning acrobatic shot at the buzzer (33-26, 10th). Lonely on Friday, he had this time the support of Guerschon Yabusele (18 points, 2 rebounds), better served at the low post to take advantage of his physical advantage against the interiors of Latvia.
The good entry of Terry Tarpey (7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists) combined with a flamboyant three-point address (10 out of 14 at halftime!) allowed the Blues to take a nine-point lead (48-39, 16th). But instead of widening the gap, the Olympic vice-champions fell back into their defensive ways by offering several open positions to Kristers Zoriks (13 points) to bring Latvia back together (50-49, 19th).
Finally conquerors in the third quarter, like Yabusele, unstoppable low post for Rolands Smits, the Blues broke away by passing a 9-0 concluded by a double pass from Fournier then a new interior basket from Yabusele (72 -59, 27th). A mattress that gradually deflated. Fournier out, the France team multiplied the losses of the ball, including one from Nicolas Batum while the captain of the Blues was open behind the arc.
The expulsion of De Colo as a turning point
The situation of Vincent Collet’s players became critical seven minutes from the buzzer. Silent in scoring but valuable organizer (8 assists), Nando De Colo inherited his second unsportsmanlike foul – severe – after a collision with Arturs Kurucs who held his arm (75-66, 34th). Without the leader of Asvel, the Blues went back to stammering their basketball and Arturs Zagars (21 points) gave hope to the Latvians by planting seven points to return to a length (80-79, 36th).
Two minutes later, on a fight for the rebound under the Latvian circle, a foul by Rudy Gobert sent Rolands Smits on the free throw line to give the Baltics the advantage for the first time in the match, 37 seconds from the buzzer (86 -87, 39th). Evan Fournier – still the best French scorer on Sunday (27 points) – on a floater then Sylvain Francisco at three points, at the buzzer, missed the last two French attempts to seal the fate of the Blues.
One year before the Paris Olympic Games, the French team must now tackle a totally unexpected reconstruction.
2023-08-27 15:28:24
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