2023-08-09 23:53:00
First big successful test for the Blues. Sixteen days before their entry into the running in the Basketball World Cup, the players of the France team dominated Lithuania with authority (90-72), Wednesday evening, at the CO’Met Arena in Orleans. The Blues took a quarter to fully enter their match, before unfolding.
First trapped by the good circulation of the Lithuanian ball in attack, and the physical presence of Jonas Valanciunas and Donatas Motiejunas, letting 9 offensive rebounds slip away before the break, the French had difficulty getting into the rhythm. But they gradually raised the slider to the expected level, like an omnipresent Nicolas Batum in defense, whether on the counter, interception or to seek a return to the zone just before half-time.
Less successful in shooting, with two big “air balls” at three points, Batum was able to leave the offensive sector to Nando De Colo. In the absence of Evan Fournier, injured in the ankle on Monday once morest Venezuela and spared, the leader of Asvel made his science of the game speak to distribute the offerings, or to get the free throws in a second quarter finished time with a bang (10 pts, 4 assists at the break), and concluded with a dunk at the buzzer from Guerschon Yabusele (45-33).
Collet was able to spin
Vincent Collet’s men, very talkative at each timeout, continued their momentum following returning from the locker room, bringing the gap to 20 points behind a big defensive job by Rudy Gobert (14 pts, 6 rebounds) ahead of Valanciunas, followed by an award-winning shot from Yabusele in the right corner (53-33). Faced with the oiled collective game of the Blues, Lithuania sometimes seemed lost, she who was deprived of a few executives who might have done her good (Sabonis, Grigonis).
When Deividas Sirvydis brought his team down to 12 lengths at the end of the third quarter, Batum, De Colo then Frank Ntilikina put the lid back on the opposing hopes of three successive award-winning shots, to start the last quarter with a thick mattress of 21 units (71-50). This allowed the coach to give his bench some playing time at the end of the game, like Yoan Makoundou, who offered the last blow of the match with an interception followed by a “mill à vent”, or even Joël Ayayi, who lived his first minutes in blue, all smiles.
Behind the batum, De Colo and Gobert, Yabusele (15 pts, 6/9 in shooting), Ntilikina (11 pts) and Sylvain Francisco, on fire at the end of the match, showed themselves to their advantage. Facing them, Mindaugas Kuzminskas (18 pts) and Ignas Brazdeikis (12 pts) were far too alone offensively. France will aim for a 5th victory in a row in Vilnius on Friday once morest revengeful Lithuanians.
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