Paris (AFP)
At least one Frenchman will be European basketball champion after the Euroleague final Sunday (8.30pm) in Vitoria: either Nando De Colo with CSKA Moscow, Adrien Moerman and Rodrigue Beaubois with Efes Istanbul.
For De Colo, it would be a second title after that of 2016 with the Moscow team before, perhaps, to change the horizon, if we believe the Spanish press that would see him well back in the peninsula. But the back of the Blues, who will be 32 in June, said he would only worry once the season is over.
MVP of the 2015-2016 season (and also the Final Four that year), the Nordic has found his best level in the semifinal to eliminate the defending champion, Real Madrid (95-90) Fabien Causeur ( 18 points), and take revenge last year. The Frenchman finished top scorer in the match with 23 points (tied with his Spanish team-mate Sergio Rodriguez) and he was the one who pushed his team, long led, a three-point basket at 1 min 20 sec of the end.
Moerman and Beaubois, both born in 1988, discovered the Final Four and created a big surprise by eliminating Fenerbahçe, the 2017 champion and runner-up last year, in the semifinal in the Istanbul derby. The two Frenchmen held a rather discrete role (7 points and 2 points) in this victory whose two great craftsmen were the American Shane Larkin (30 points) and the Serb Vasilije Micic (25 points).
CSKA Moscow will be the favorite of the final for an eighth title that would bring it closer to the Real Madrid record (10). The Russian club has won twice in the regular season.
? 2019 AFP