As unthinkable as it may seem when we remember the endgames badly embarked against Turkey and Italy, France is indeed still alive in this Euro, at the gates of the final. Faced with Vincent Collet’s troop stands a surprising Polish formation, which created the feat in the previous round, by teaching the lesson to Slovenia of Luka Doncic.
A priori favorite on paper, despite the momentum of Poland and the qualifications laboriously obtained in the two previous rounds, France does not fail to remind, perhaps for the first time of this Euro with such seriousness, its status of Olympic vice-champion to its opponent of the day, to the start of the match.
The defense sets the tone
It is especially defensively that the Blues hit hard, conceding only nine points in the first quarter. Effort, investment, quick support to hold the duels and active arms to cut the passing lines: everything is there from the men of Vincent Collet, who clearly made their best start to the match of the competition. In attack, the rise in power is a little more gradual, and it is in particular the entry of Thomas Heurtel, hero of the previous match, which makes the offensive phases more fluid. The conductor of the French attack distributes two caviars on his first two possessions, including one for Guerschon Yabusele behind the arc. Position 4 of Real Madrid shines particularly in this first quarter.
Thereafter, after a (very) brief burst of pride from Poland initiated by AJ Slaughter at the start of the second act, the tricolor selection maintained its efforts, without embellishment but with great seriousness. The Polish players remain powerless offensively against the blue wall, embodied in particular by Rudy Gobert who offers himself two huge volley “smash” type counters.
After twenty successful minutes, certainly the most successful of the whole tournament, France sails serenely in the lead, 20 minutes from the final (34-18).
Hallelujah: the Blues do not miss their third quarter!
We don’t notice much in the second half, except… that we are almost bored, as France widens the gap severely in the third quarter! For once, the Blues did not get through at this point in the match, and even furiously went into fifth gear in attack: a 30-18 in ten minutes, under the impetus of a Guerschon Yabusele who walked on water (22 points, 9/12 on shots), and a gap close to 30 points after the half hour (64-36).
Poland saw a torment in attack (29% on shots after three quarters), like its star Mateusz Ponitka, grandiose against Slovenia but non-existent in this meeting (7 points, 3/10 on shots)…
The last quarter allows Vincent Collet to offer long minutes of rest on the bench to his executives (Evan Fournier, Rudy Gobert, Guerschon Yabusele), in anticipation of the final, whose doors are opening more and more. largely over the passing minutes. The substitutes have fun, without taking their foot off the accelerator, and the gap even reaches 40 points (90-50!) two minutes from the buzzer.
In the end, a victory of 41 points (95-54) for France, which therefore qualifies for the EuroBasket final after an impressive performance, both in attack and in defense. The adversity today certainly turned out to be modest in the end, but France still did what we expected of it: to win, and with style.
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