without a solution, the Blues bow to Germany for their entry into the running

Missed debut for the Blues at EuroBasket 2022. Opposed to Germany in Cologne to start their tournament, Vincent Collet’s players lost this Thursday (63-76) in a Group B match, in the first round of this European Championship. A failed match for the French who had difficulty entering. Hope was born at the start of the second half. Vide showered by Johannes Thiemann (14 pts, +/- to +26), Maodo Lo (13 pts), Niels Giffey (13 pts), Dennis Schröder (11 pts) and company. Without a solution, both offensively and defensively, Vincent Collet’s players will already be under pressure on Saturday, against Lithuania, even if the first four of each group reach the knockout stages. 18 points for Gerschon Yabusele. Only 7 points at 2/10 for Evan Fournier, offensive leader of the selection having missed his subject. He is not the only one in this case… The key figures? 17 ball losses for the Blues, their modest 38% in shots and the small 16/24 in throws)…

First news of the evening with this double change in the five of the Blues, Albicy and Okobo instead of Heurtel and Luwawu-Cabarrot. However, this did not allow the French to start with a bang, with the two teams out of address, with the score and the percentages which were struggling to take off. After the first 10 minutes of play, France had more ball losses (6) than baskets (5, out of 14 attempted) and Germany was racing in the lead (10-15, then 13-17 at the end of 1st QT ). Difficulties still present in this second quarter (20-29). As at the start of the match against the Czechs at Bercy, Yabusele operated the artificial respiration in attack while the faults rained down on the Habs (2 for Albicy, Poirier and Gobert). The entry of Maledon was good, Heurtel put his shots (30-31), but France, clumsy in throwing in addition to everything else, remained behind at the break (31-37 MT).

The Blues go back in front, but…

Return of the usual five on the restart, and Germany who could no longer score. Yabusele unleashed and the Blues in front (39-38). Thiemann, Schröder and the locals started again with a vengeance (43-54), while Fournier was still cold – if not this triple to deceive – and the blue throws still did not return. The chalice to the dregs at the end of the third quarter with a triple from Giffey to give +14 to his team against the Habs in the hard (43-57). Too many ball losses, omissions in rebounds, small errors here and there in short, for a French team obviously not on its plate and which could not let go of the horses. We had to wait for this basket from Poirier 5’43 from the end to return, briefly, below the 10-point gap (53-62), and again on this dunk from Gobert (55-64). Alas, the Germans had the answer to everything (59-76)… In the end, there was no miracle (63-76 final score).

“They were aggressive, tough, we struggled to set up our game and we lost a lot of balls… There’s a lot of work“, notes Rudy Gobert (11 pts, 12 rbs), on Canal+ Sports 360. The pivot of the Blues, however, wanted to remain optimistic, he who dreams of gold out loud in this EuroBasket which will end on September 18 in Berlin: “Nobody said it was easy. It was a first game against a good team at home. The goal is to gain strength. I know that I will be better, that the team will be better“. You really need to raise your voice. And if possible on Saturday against Lithuanians who were beaten by Slovenia a little earlier.