What if Vincent Collet had finally found his starting five? For two meetings, the coach of the French team has chosen to start the matches with Andrew AlbicyEvan Fournier, Terry Tarpey, Guerschon Yabusele and Rudy Gobert. Absent for almost all of the preparation, Albicy regained his place in the five, and it was Thomas Heurtel who paid the price, but the real surprise was the presence of Tarpey, preferred to Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot.
We thought that Terry Tarpey was a “booster” coming off the bench, but now he is a starter! Something to surprise his captain. “I’m not going to lie, when the list came out in early July, in my head he wasn’t in the 12 for EuroBasket”, confessed Evan Fournier after the victory against Lithuania. “But he has so much heart, he gives everything he has. Tonight was a big moment for him. He was in the five in a game under pressure. And he played his best game! He is the perfect example of how to play. “
They set the tone with their defense
This last remark is not trivial. Especially after the performance against Hungary. For Vincent Collet, the Blues have “deconstructed” what had been “constructed” against Lithuania. He could even have specified that the replacements “deconstructed” what the incumbents had “constructed”.
Against Hungary, France had taken the game by the right end to quickly lead by ten points. And then, the coach of the Blues decided to rotate as it was the second game in two days. And there, we saw how much Andrew Albicy and Terry Tarpey were essential.
Back on the field, when they return from the locker room, they will breathe new life into their training. Granted, they only score two points each, but their defensive aggression transforms the team. Their interceptions, their deflected balls, their presence on the passing lines, their ability to stick to the tails of their opponents… All this disrupts the opposing attack, and at the same time makes it possible to offer easy baskets on the other side of the ground.
The very definition of “role player”
In the stats sheet, there is also a column that does not lie, it is the +/-. Like any stat, it should be put into perspective, but for the Blues, it shows that the team is more effective when Andrew Albicy and Terry Tarpey are on the pitch. Sunday evening, the leader and the “rookie” finished with +/- of +15 and +24. Nobody does it better. And it is not only linked to the meeting against Hungary.
Since the start of the tournament, they have posted the best +/- of the whole team. They are ahead of Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert, or even Guerschon Yabusele. This doesn’t mean that Albicy and Tarpey are the two best players, but that the team performs better when they are on the field. Collet understood this by associating them in the starting five.
For Terry Tarpey, this confidence does not change anything. Holder or replacement, he brings the same thing. ” If we win when I’m on the bench, that’s how it is. If we win when I’m on the pitch, that’s how it is. All the guys on this team play at a level where I want to play: NBA, Euroleague…” he explained Sunday evening.
NBA, Euroleague… Neither Albicy nor Tarpey evolve at this level, but both prove in this Euro that you can get out of the game by sacrificing yourself for the good of the team. In the NBA, we call it a “role player”, and the best of them also achieve great careers.
