Evan Fournier blew up the Arena Bercy with his final, completely crazy 3-point shot. The end of a stunning afternoon for the French team, in perdition against Germany in the previous match.
“For those who have been following the French team for quite a few years, this is the group they have known since 2019, that they love, and that we found again tonight.” explains Evan Fournier after this success against Canada.
The Blues have once again taken everyone by surprise, reaching the semi-finals of the 2024 Olympic Games.
“There are a lot of things that have been said in the last two days” continues Evan Fournier. “Vincent gave us a great speech before the match, which galvanized us. He motivated us.”
He also made strong choices, by taking Evan Fournier out of the starting five, like Rudy Gobert, to put Isaïa Cordinier and Guerschon Yabusele there. Enough to find the defensive identity that the coach was looking for.
“The lineup change, the way we played, Vincent's speech for the last two days, the fact that everyone is shitting on us. There are a lot of elements that galvanize us.”
“For us, it's not an achievement. For you, in relation to what you were able to say before, it may be one, but not for us. It's just that, tonight, we started to play as we should.” ensures the rear of the Blues.
Doing judo with the Canadians, using their outside defensive pressure to punish them underneath.
“They’re so strong on defense on the outside lines that they defend very, very high. And that opens up the paint. When there were mismatches, we tried to serve them intelligently. And when there were changes and we had slower bigs on the outside, that’s when we tried to attack them. And that’s it.”
How can we explain such a change in attitude, then?
“Lots of things. The lineup change, the way we played, Vincent's speech for the last two days, the fact that everyone is shitting on us. There are lots of elements that galvanize us.”
Interview conducted in Paris
