The rebound was hoped for France after its defeat against Israel. The Blues answered present by winning on Tuesday September 2, against Poland (83 to 76), during their fourth match of the group phase of the Euro Basketball, in the boiling atmosphere of the Spadek Arena of Katowice, in Poland.
Qualified for the knockout stages a few hours earlier thanks to the victories of the Israelis and Slovenia, the Olympic vice-champions point to third place in group D (with three victories and a defeat). They can still hope to finish in the lead – and avoid a few cadors in the round of 16 – before playing a final match against Iceland on Thursday.
As a good captain, Guerschon Yabusele had demanded “A reaction” Two days after the setback inflicted by Israel. There was one of the leads, to the point of hearing some « MVP » (“Most Valuable Player”, “most useful player”) escape from the stands yet completely and logically acquired to the cause of local basketball players.
“He assumed his role in the most beautiful way”praised the coach, Frédéric Faithoux, happy with the“Pride” shown by his players.
With 36 points-his record in blue-“the dancing bear” showed the way, while he was struggling to excel offensively since the start of the euro. We will also note its success on the three points (6 out of 12), an area in which the Blues still weakened on Tuesday (9 out of 32).
A twist match for the Blues
Everything was not perfect, especially in the first period. A very good phases, were grafted for vacuum passages and defensive errors, weaknesses which the Poles took advantage, to inflict a 6-0 in the last minutes preceding half-time and thus go to the lead (44 to 41) while the men of Frédéric Faithoux had sometimes led up to nine points in the first act.
But Yabusele relaunched the machine and chained the right shots to allow his family to answer with a 10-0 after the break. He still who, at the entrance to the last quarter, haranged his teammates and marked two new three-point shots, a blow, to bring the gap at eleven points ahead (66 to 55).
“He was able to show what he was capable of, he” lead “ [“guide”] This team today “said his teammate Elie Okobo, himself an excellent with a double-double (14 points, 10 assists).
The Blues nevertheless gave themselves a few scares in the last moments of the match when the teammates of Jordan Loyd (18 points, 5 rebounds) sounded the revolt. But no unpleasant surprises; The evening will even end up in style for France with a long distance basket from Elie Okobo, confirming a welcome success in the race at the head of the group that the Blues are now competing with Israel and Poland.
