so close, but so far, the Blues of basketball lose in the final against the United States

The French men’s basketball team advanced without complexes in the final, Saturday, August 7, against the United States. Beaten 82 to 87, at the end of a meeting where it will have stood up to the best team in the world, the squad led by Evan Fournier must be satisfied with a bitter Olympic silver medal.

“The fact of being disappointed by this defeat, we can be satisfiedblows the captain of the Blues, Nicolas Batum. French basketball has come to this: we finished second at the Olympic Games and we are not satisfied with it. It shows our progress, because ten or fifteen years ago we were happy to finish fifth at the World Cup. ” He and his partners will have tried everything, by pressing on an identified “weak” point of the Americans: their domestic sector.

Served by Nando De Colo in the racket, Rudy Gobert (2.16 m) marks his territory from the start. Faced with “little” Draymond Green (2 m), the French pivot wins and dunkes. As in their first match of the tournament (won 83-76), the French are not fooled. “Of course they are superior to us, but can we beat them and do we have real know-how? Of course, and we will have to rely on that to be able to worry them ”, argued Evan Fournier before the final. Accustomed to meeting American stars on a daily basis in the NBA, and with their two straight victories against them – the last of which in a group match of the Olympics, the French do not feed any complex.

But faced with the United States and their myriad of offensive options, the tide is turning very quickly. The Spaniards, in the quarterfinals, and the Australians, in the semis, can attest to this, the two teams having let slip 10 and 15 points in advance. And despite a good quarter-time, where the Blues have properly applied their game plan, a series started by Kevin Durant allows “Team USA” to turn in the lead after ten minutes of play (18-22). A serious customer on the road to Nicolas Batum, two days after colliding with Luka Doncic – two of the best offensive players on the planet. “I drooled a bit [jeudi] with Luka, and I’ll be fixing the other in two days “, anticipated the French captain, without complaining. At the break, the Brooklyn Nets player has already scored 21 points (27 in total). “It’s Kevin Durant, the best forward in basketball today. We know that he will plant shots that only he is capable of putting, notes Rudy Gobert. But we tried to make him work. “

Aggressive American defense

Seriously, Gregg Popovich’s players did not take the Blues high. If their attack is none of the San Antonio Spurs’ licked game – a “European game”, according to Collet – set up in the NBA by the Texan tactician, the American individualities easily make the difference. Carried by Kevin Durant, the United States take up to 13 points in advance, but France is not disunited. Searching for her interiors, she is gradually catching up.

“If you put your throws, we would freak out less, motherfucker”, teased Nicolas Batum towards Rudy Gobert at the end of the match against Slovenia – in which his partner had missed two crucial throws at the end of the match. Dominating the racket, the French pivot has not fully heard the lesson, and leash on the way (16 points and 6/13 throws). “I missed too many shots and it has an impact on the game, regretted the pivot after the game, which he ended collapsed. I tell myself that if I put four or five more, it could have changed the course of the game. “ His trainer is less severe: “It’s a weak point with him, but he works a lot. And the Americans did everything they could to get him to the line. “ Identifies another culprit, the loss of balls. Eighteen in total (against nine on the American side), caused by the aggressive American defense. “And against the United States, we know that a stray bullet is a guaranteed basket”, insists Vincent Collet.

If the final gap is minimal – the smallest in a final since the NBA irrigates the American team – the United States has not lost in the Olympic final since 1972. At the Munich Games, the American team, made up of university players, was overthrown by the USSR on a controversial basket of Alexander Belov with the siren. This match, Vincent Collet remembers it. He was 9 years old and had dreams of an orange ball in his head.

“When I was a young basketball player, as a youngster, I dreamed of playing a France-United States in the final”, confided the French coach after the victory of his people in the semi-final. He had urged his troops to “Push the Americans to their limits”.

Yoyo and loss of ball

But Kevin Durant did not put on the American jersey to visit Japan. Fluid, the boss of “Team USA” continued his work in the blue defense. The now three-time Olympic champion (after London and Rio) even tried to seal his dominance with a dunk on Rudy Gobert’s head, but the three-time best defender of the year in the NBA intervened with authority (and a foul ). Without ever letting go, the Blues do the yoyo, but their ball losses handicap them. However, they will return to 3 points ten seconds from the end, in an end of the meeting that they are trying to pack. In vain. “Today, we saw two great teams playing until the buzzer sounded. The France team has grown, but we have a bitter feeling because we know that we could have gone to the end ”, notes the leader Frank Ntilikina.

So close, but so far, the Blues have never thrown their arms in this final and forced the Americans to never let their guard down. “We are not far and we are progressing”, explains Evan Fournier, proud of the competition led by his team, and recalling that this French team has just played its second competition with this framework. “We finished third in China [au Mondial], here, we finish second. “

His team forced themselves to watch the Americans’ celebration after their title, to forge their motivation for the next tournaments. “We want to place French basketball at the highest level in the long term, and to be able, one day, to climb to the highest Olympic step”, concludes Nicolas Batum. They believe in it, and see a bright future for their France team. From Paris, in three years, for example.