This sportingly uninteresting meeting begins with “hooray basketball”. Deprived of its pivots, France plays “small ball” with Terry Tarpey in position 4 and Guerschon Yabusele in 5. An unprecedented configuration which benefits the individual talent of Wael Arakji (14-9 Lebanon after four minutes). As usual, stray bullets and dropped rebounds follow one another, and Vincent Collet forced to take a time-out, and put Nicolas Batum, 6th man for a day. Evan Fournier saves the furniture on one side, but takes winds in defense. Classic (18-12).
To see the best, we have to wait for the return of Sylvain Francisco in the distribution of the game but also the defensive aggressiveness. Result: 7-0 and France go ahead (19-18). A short-lived lead as Lebanon took advantage of two loose balls to take the first quarter (20-19). Isaiah Cordinier wakes up France with a huge tap dunk on a Batum miss. But the Blues still defend just as badly on Arakji who cuts the defense without too many problems (24-21). As a result, Lebanon even takes a six-point lead (29-23 then 31-25) with Arakji who remains on his cloud (already 19 points!). As proof, this arm rolled over Batum’s nose. Collet has no choice but to take a time-out where he attacks Elie Okobo “who does not want to play”.
France at -10!
And it’s worse behind since France finds itself at -10! (35-25). Fournier, who plays solo, and Batum on tap, revives the Blues. Best Blue in this first half, Yabusele brings France back to one unit, one minute from the break (37-36). And it’s Fournier, in free throws, who put France in front (38-37). And everyone joins the locker room with a smile: this 20-meter basket from Yakuba Ouattara at the buzzer. A tenth of a second too late.
The second half is in line with the first with the Fournier-Yabusele duo taking care of the attack, and not much in defense. Result, the Blues struggle (48-47) after four minutes. To make matters worse, Yabusele goes out for three faults, and we get eaten under the circle. Like on this tap dunk by Omari Spellman which gives Lebanon a four-point lead (52-48). The following ? An air-ball from De Colo, and the Lebanese who stand out (55-50). Collet even raises Elie Okobo, who had been shown in the first half for his lack of desire, and the coach sets up an all-terrain zone. There is a slight improvement, but Lebanon attack the last quarter with a point lead (59-58).
The Okobo Spark
Confidence is in the socks on the Blues side, and Lebanon takes the opportunity to take back two possessions in advance (64-60). Without Yabusele, blocked by his four faults, France plays in a “horseshoe” with only ball circulation around the 3-point line. At the end of the chain, Cordinier brings the Blues back to one unit (64-63). And it’s Okobo, with a circus shot, who equalizes (65-65), and it’s still him who sends Cordinier to dunk. France is in front (67-65), and Francisco drives the point home with a Kyrie Irving-style move. France escapes five minutes from the end (72-65). We are not going to talk about a click, since the Blues will scare their (rare) supporters with a poorly controlled “money time” since Lebanon will return to -3 (82-79). But on arrival, the victory is there (85-79). From now on, place with the classification matches. Only two more purges, and this World Cup will be over for a France that has its head elsewhere.
Stats and video summary to come
