After their second victory in preparation, against Germany in Cologne (90-66), the Blues returned to their home ground for revenge. On the floor of the Arena Sud in Montpellier, in the absence of an ill Victor Wembanyama, France lost to Germany with a vengeful Dennis Schröder (70-65).
Too wasteful in attack, including a small 7/18 in throws, the Blues also lacked seriousness in defense.
A disastrous end to the half
There are changes in the midfield, with the Wagner brothers back in action on the one hand, and the absence of Victor Wembanyama, who is ill on the other. Nicolas Batum takes the Spur's place in the starting five and the Blues get off to a good start. An 8-2 that even turns into 12-2. Matthew Strazel from afar and Bilal Coulibaly with the tap dunk set the tone perfectly, while on the other side, the Germans don't put one foot in front of the other in attack, with two points scored, and again, on free throws, after seven minutes of play!
Deprived of the game after his expulsion in the first leg, Evan Fournier made a great entrance with 7 quick points and France controlled its subject in the first quarter (19-11). A small alert nevertheless, with Guerschon Yabusele who returned to the locker room. France stayed the course and kept a ten-point lead thanks to the undermining work of Mathias Lessort, solid in the low post and with the tap.
Fournier succeeds with a 3-pointer with the board and Bilal Coulibaly is very aggressive towards the circle with two dunks in a row but it is Germany who ends the half better. Johannes Voigtmann scores despite the foul and when Schröder gets involved, it is 14-2 for Germany who equalize at the break, while the Blues chain together blunder after blunder (39-39).
A real “money time”
Rather discreet in the first half, the Wagner brothers come out of their box after the locker room. With Franz who gives the advantage to Germany for the first time in the match. Then Moritz who concludes, well served by Schröder who also gets up to speed. Strazel calms the game and Coulibaly infiltrates intelligently for a floater, but the Blues run after the score, like this missed dunk by Ntilikina followed by a 3-pointer by Schröder.
Yabusele imposes himself powerfully but the tricolor attack is very laborious, really poor on the outside positions. It's -6 before the last quarter (59-53). Maodo Lo hits a 3-point shot right away, and causes Collet to immediately time out. The defense is no longer there either…
Pushed back into their entrenchments, the Blues respond. They cause two lost balls, find their accuracy from afar with Cordinier, Strazel then Batum and we are entitled to a real “money time”. Cordinier increases defensive pressure on Schröder, and blocks his shot from afar! But Lo is burning from afar (4/6) and Schröder closes the case for the first defeat of the Blues' preparation (70-65).
