For their last match in a competition that was definitely a failure, the Blues had to do well against a Côte d’Ivoire with an Olympic stake, even a distant one. As throughout the tournament, the French team has never shown its best face over the entirety of a match, and even perhaps a half-time. But the Blues seriously win by ten points against the Ivorians (87-77).
A (new) sluggish start
The Blues are slowly starting their game. The set-ups are slow and the attacks often sterile, and in front, the defense is rather loose. To make matters worse, or to shake up the troops, Evan Fournier takes a technical foul while Côte d’Ivoire leads 8-3.
The reaction of pride intervenes first by Rudy Gobert who concludes finely under the circle for the basket plus the fault. From 8-13, France went to 18-13 under the impetus of Guerschon Yabusele and Elie Okobo, author of a 3-point shot that felt good at the end of the first quarter (25-21).
France led by one point at the break…
Still a little passive defensively, the Blues let the Elephants stay in contact, with the fine address of Nisre Zouzoua (12 points) and Vafessa Fofana (8 points). If Moustapha Fall is well served by Sylvain Francisco for the dunk, the pivot is several times served too late, sanctioned by the clock of 24.
The Blues are still launched into a beautiful offensive galley, which causes a second tricolor technical fault, from Vincent Collet this time. After three minutes without a single point, Francisco steals an important ball for an easy dunk from Gobert.
With 2 small points on the counter-attack and 8 lost balls in the first half, the Blues can consider themselves lucky to be only one point behind at the break (41-40), thanking the hyper Cordinier activity (9 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds).
The Solo Diabate show
Remobilized at the break, the Blues start with a convincing 10-0, including a 3-pointer from De Colo who shows up offensively with a layup in stride. Fofana, the player from Gravelines-Dunkerque, stops the bleeding for Côte d’Ivoire but it is indeed +10 when Francisco registers in first intention at 3-points.
It doesn’t last long, because Zouzoua continues his 3-point festival, with his fourth of the match (out of seven attempts). The veteran Solo Diabaté takes pleasure in tormenting many acquaintances and reduces the gap to 4 units. He steals the ball from Okobo and recovers the leather for a two-handed dunk!
France only leads by one point before the last quarter, still as sluggish and prone to repeated weak times (62-61).
A snatch success
France are stubborn at 3-point and simply have to chase the score while the Ivorians maintain their address at 50% behind the arc. Still trailing by two points six minutes from the end, and still three minutes away, the fault of a diabolical Diabaté, the French are clearly not in the game.
The individual efforts of Francisco (15 points, 7 assists) and Cordinier (19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) save appearances but we are still dangerously close to corrections. In the end, thanks to an unsportsmanlike on Cédric Bah who joined the bench, then a distant and welcome shot from De Colo, France definitely took the break at the end of the match to win without convincing (87-77 ).
Summary video and stats to come
