Fourth victory in four preparation matches for the French team

The time for friendly matches is over for the France team. The Euro is still far away, and the Blues will play two more matches before the meeting of the continental gratin. Two qualifying matches for the 2023 World Cup, including one at Bercy next Wednesday against the Czech Republic. Before moving on to more serious things, Vincent Collet’s men won a fairly large victory against Belgium (90-71) on Thursday, after two successes against Italy (78-77 and 100-68) and another, at the start of preparation, against the Netherlands (89-65).

In the Sud de France Arena in Montpellier, Evan Fournier (10 points) and his family had some difficulty getting started. The aggressiveness of the Lions, capable of putting a lot of speed into the game after rebounding, but also the tricolor clumsiness, played a big part in the start of the scenario which saw the locals trailing 24-13. Nothing to worry about, provided you raise your voice, and contain a little Retin Obasohan (14 points at halftime, and in the end), who will play Asvel next season.

Gobert – Bako, duel at altitude

This is what the French managed to do, even before the end of the first act, finished with a 6-0 (19-24, 10th), extended to 11-0 on a three-point basket from Amath M ‘Baye, who finally found the target with the France team, after two complicated first matches.

Despite the gap, the game offered some big streaks, like the duel of pivots led by Rudy Gobert (12 points, 6 rebounds) and Ismaël Bako (8 points), former resident of Asvel. The first launched hostilities with a huge one-handed dunk on the head of his vis-à-vis (37-35). A brilliant action rendered by the Belgian in the middle of the third quarter. Only his team had already declined (54-40), mistreated by Thomas Heurtel (13 points, top French scorer), as altruistic as he was skillful (5 of 8 shooting, including 2 of 4 at three points). His two three-point banderillas to take the score to +20 (60-40) ended the suspense well before the fourth quarter.

Tarpey, the pretty third quarter

A final, almost anecdotal act. Chopped even. However, he allowed the very late entry of Mam Jaiteh for the last five minutes, and even of William Howard, on a slight injury to Maledon.

While Vincent Collet will soon announce the list of twelve players selected to compete in the Euro, Le Mans player Terry Tarpey scored big points (8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists). Inserted into the starting five after the break due to Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot’s high number of fouls, the winger quickly scored six points and offered some good play readings without the ball.

Equally significant: the very distributed brand for the France team. The three leaders (Gobert, Fournier and Heurtel) were the most prolific (35 points), and all the other players contributed, with a special mention for those who came off the bench (48 points). The rise must continue as the Euro will begin in just two weeks.