a time jostled, the Blues march on the Czechs

A half-time to warm up, another to unwind. After four victories in preparation, Gerschon Yabusele (16 pts), Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot (16 pts), Rudy Gobert (14 pts) and company crushed the Czech Republic (95-60) Wednesday evening, at Bercy, for the first of their two qualifying matches for the 2023 World Cup. Success which brings them closer to a ticket for this World Cup. Eight days before the start of EuroBasket (September 1-18), the Blues looked for each other and ran after the score for most of the first period before rolling out, to the delight of the Parisian public. Which public will have to wait for the final phase to see basketball during the 2024 Olympic Games, with the group stage planned, until further notice, on the side of the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Villeneuve d’Ascq. But that’s another story… Remember that the Habs had also beaten these same Czechs in two stages last summer, at the Tokyo Games (97-77).

The “academic basketball” praised by Collet on Tuesday, we saw it at work from the start, Hruban and Balvin scoring the first 10 Czech points (2-10). “We have to shake them up”, added the national coach. This is what his players quickly began to do, causing fouls, finally showing themselves to be aggressive on both sides of the floor, like this big one-handed dunk signed Gobert (5-12, then 14-12) . However, the visitors resumed their march forward as Fournier got bogged down individually and the Blues collectively (16-26). Too many stray shots, misses from near and far, not enough pace… The Czechs won the first quarter 28-22 at the Olympics a year ago. 27-18 to their advantage this time, despite Yabusele’s 10 points. By sailing for a long time at less than 30% on shots (!), with failures on easy shots, the Blues, winded, could not hope for much (24-35). The first basket of Fournier (31-39), after six failures, finally launched their evening and a run, with this monstrous tap from Gobert, in the oven and at the mill on Wednesday (38-39). Better before the break, despite the three points from Hruban (14 pts at the MT) just before the buzzer (38-42 MT).

Two rooms, two atmospheres

Impression confirmed on resumption, with Tarpey in the five in place of “TLC”. The surprise guest from Le Mans was not there for nothing, but the whole French team was in tune now, with an ever more impactful Gobert (58-45). And even without the Picard giant, nothing happened in the circle. The flies had changed donkeys, like in Tokyo, when the Blues had, over the minutes, “lose their Latinto Vesely and company. The latter, muffled, scored only seven points in the third quarter (66-50). And they continued to take the tide, with “TLC”, with Poirier, with the Blues launched. A demonstration, with up to 35 points difference for the French team in this walk (95-60 final score). Next stop ? Saturday in Sarajevo, with a qualifying match for the World Cup before, finally, turning to the Euro and this match against Germany, September 1, in Cologne. By then, the staff will have decided on the case Albicy, the 32-year-old leader who returned to the group on Monday after three weeks of absence due to injury. He didn’t play on Wednesday. To see if Moustapha Fall, present at Bercy but not (yet?) recalled, should follow this path…