After having humiliated Tunisia on Monday evening, the Blues this time faced an opponent of a different caliber: the Montenegro of Nikola Vucevic, qualified for the World Cup. The opportunity to ramp up in Montpellier, just over three weeks before the start of the competition in Asia.
The first half was generally dominated by the France. Launched by a Evan Fournier on a good evening, Vincent Collet’s troupe quickly took control of this part, taking advantage of the transitions to fuel the score and flirting with a ten-point lead, while developing an attractive collective game in sequences. Only downside, the ability of the Montenegrins to score on the offensive rebound to stay in the wheel of the French, ahead but slightly (42-37).
To note, in particular: a basket with 3-points of… Rudy Gobert (yes, yes!) and a buzzer shoot of Nando de Colo before returning to the changing rooms.
In the second half, well guided by Rudy Gobert but also Elie Okobo Coming off the bench, the Blues did not let go of their lead on the scoreboard, but they struggled to make it grow, due to their loss of the ball and their inability to lock in the offensive rebound. Enough to leave the players of Montenegro at a reasonable distance, until the last quarter. Moment chosen by France to raise the tone in defense and seek faults in attack, so as to increase the gap in the last minutes, for good.
On arrival, with a huge “alley-oop” of the spark Sylvain Francisco as an exclamation mark, this gives an easy victory for the Olympic and European vice-champions (80-69). With, among others, Evan Fournier’s 20 points, Rudy Gobert’s 16 points and 9 rebounds, or Elie Okobo’s 12 points and 7 assists.
