Three out of three: the French basketball players, winners of the Iranians (79-62) on Saturday in Saitama, ended their group stage with a new victory, filling up with confidence while waiting to know their opponents in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament. Amazing winners of Team USA (83-76) at the opening of the competition at the Tokyo Games, then of the Czech Republic (97-77) on Wednesday, and therefore already assured of finishing first in group A even before this meeting, the Blues n 'did not force their talent to win, what is more at an unusual morning schedule (10h00 local). Above all, they avoided the pitfall of injury, which sometimes happens in this kind of match. They were even finally able to recover the leader Frank Ntilikina, who had missed the first two matches due to muscle discomfort,and recorded his almost 19 Olympic first minutes satisfactorily (3 pts, 4 assists).
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Faced with Iranians already eliminated, the French first unrolled their basketball by relying on their defense, limiting the opposing address to 29% in the first period (34% in the end), which allowed them to score enough often in counter-attacks, sometimes adding to it the way with alley-oop (passes converted into dunk) of Rudy Gobert (6 pts) and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot (12 pts, 5 rebounds) which showed pep. It was after a stroke of heat from Thomas Heurtel, author of twelve points in a row (16 in total), that the gap peaked at 22 units at the end of the first period. The third quarter was on the other hand that of a relaxation, because Vincent Collet's men showed nonchalance in attack, between missed double-steps and loss of balls,Gobert for his part being too easily countered by Hamed Haddadi (18 pts, 12 rebounds), hero of his country, who smiled.
We were serious in the first period, less in the second, during which we were less good offensively
Vincent Collet
The Blues, who thus let Iran return to 13 lengths, finally recovered a little, thanks in particular to the new good contribution of Vincent Poirier (10 pts), under the eyes of executives to the economy, like by Evan Fournier (3 pts in 14 min).
“
We were serious in the first period, less in the second, during which we were less good offensively,
” summed up coach Vincent Collet, already looking to the future.
“
We are happy with our group stage, but the quarterfinals are the key moment of the competition.
If you win, you have two possibilities for medals.
If you lose, you come home.
The Blues must now wait until the draw scheduled for Sunday evening to discover the identity of their opponent. According to the rules, the first three of each group, of which they are part, as well as the best runner-up will be placed in one pot, and the other two runners-up as well as the two best runners-up will be in the other.