This morning, the French team woke up with a bad hangover. Beaten by 30 points by Canada, the Blues took a ” good jerk off according to Evan Fournier, and above all they compromised the rest of the competition.
Admittedly, Rudy Gobert’s teammates can still finish second in the group by beating Latvia and Lebanon, but the point-average could be decisive in the second phase, and in the event of a tie, the 30-point difference could weigh heavy.
” Canada has been above us at every level. But for me, it starts with the state of mind. We spent our time complaining” regrets Rudy Gobert, in remarks reported by BeBasket. “With this mentality, we are not going to go very far. In the end, maybe that’s what we needed. Sometimes it feels good to take a good hook to put your ideas back in place. It’s a big defeat, you have to take it, cash it, digest it. We don’t have time to cry or point fingers. We all know what we have to do better individually”.
“We know that Sunday’s match against Latvia will be eliminatory”
The Wolves center finished with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 1 block, and found himself non-existent“. ” I might be a little hard on myself saying this but I know I didn’t impact the game the way I should have. We know that Sunday’s match against Latvia will be eliminatory. We are aware that our backs are against the wall. It’s up to us to change our mindset and I think the rest will follow. We do not doubt for a second that we will face a very good basketball team but we have to be tougher. That’s what we focus on. »
But the state of mind is not the only axis of progress since Rudy Gobert reminds us that “As soon as we moved the ball, good things were happening”.
Except that the Blues, under pressure, fell back into their ways. “But one pass one shot or none pass one shot… At first we put the shots but then with fatigue nothing came in” he concludes.
