“I don’t read newspapers or social media.”. Vincent Collet explains that he still imagines what he was saying about himself, and that he still has “some friends who are there” to bring him things. “I suspect I'm getting cut. However, I don't know how.” he concluded before heading to the locker room.
It is that after the debacle of the 2023 World Cup and the preparation and then the group stage of these 2024 Olympic Games, the fans of the Blues had reason to wonder.
In his defense, France lacks some key profiles, notably a point guard capable of setting up simple actions, such as pick-and-roll, at the top FIBA level. But by refocusing the identity of the Blues around Victor Wembanyama and the defense, Vincent Collet was looking for a new balance that seemed to be slipping away…
A EuroLeague game plan
Paradoxically, Evan Fournier's “criticisms” of this identity, too defensive in the eyes of the full-back, may have helped the coach to fully assume his convictions. And to stop looking for impossible compromises, with player profiles that did not fit.
After the defeat against Germany, he decided to make strong choices, with a clear game plan to fight against Canada. So out goes Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert, admittedly injured in the finger.
As Evan Fournier explained, the idea was to use the Canadians' defensive overaggressiveness on the outside lines against them. With little help from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his gang, France focused on provoking the right changes to pound under the circle, thanks to Guershon Yabusele And Mathias Lessort. By adding play in first intention, in particular via Isaiah Cordinierwe get a great start to the match.
“I'm not going to bring it back, I didn't expect Isaiah to shoot 4/4 from 3-point range” Vincent Collet tempers with a smile. “We put him in the five to raise our defensive level and then above all we remembered that at the start of preparation the defensive five always made good starts. It seemed very important to me. The fact of putting Guerschon for Rudy, it was already decided before he hurt his fingers yesterday (Monday). The idea was that I wanted Victor to start the match in position 5.”
“One of the best speeches I have ever heard”
Victor Wembanyama, further offshore, then served as the first balloon supplier for the “Euroleaguers” Yabusele/Lessortwho hammered Canadian interiors less powerful than them, under the circle.
“They're so strong in defense on the outside lines that they defend very, very high. And that opens up the racket. When there were mismatches, we tried to serve them intelligently. And when there were changes and we had slower bigs on the outside, we tried to attack them.” said Evan Fournier.
The game plan worked perfectly. And according to the players, it was accompanied by an equally perfect speech.
“Vincent gave one of the best speeches I have ever heard.” assures Nicolas Batum. “He has this gift, when he has to say certain things, to galvanize the group, he did it again tonight. It's his victory, for him and his staff.”
A “man's speech” according to Evan Fournier which, according to the coach, was ultimately just a reminder of what he had explained on the first day of training.
“I didn’t even talk about basketball. I went back to my opening speech at the camp about the exceptional opportunity we have to play in the Games at home and what it meant in a career and even in a life. It was a moment that we shouldn’t let pass us by, and we had missed a lot of things since that first day of camp. We lost games, we were sometimes below expectations. But despite everything, we are at the rendezvous of what we wanted, that is to say in the quarterfinals. And so, what I told them is that everything that had happened in the last month, it should help us to transcend ourselves.” This was the case.
Photo credit: FIBA
