Villeurbanne (AFP)
French basketball riders crashed over Argentina 77-58 on Saturday in Villeurbanne before flying to China, where the World Cup begins in two weeks.
This is the third victory in three days of the Blues, for their last game of preparation on the French soil. Their break-in will continue with an internship and then a tournament in Shenyang, in the north of China, where they will face New Zealand, Italy and Serbia next weekend.
The day started badly with the announcement of the Adrien Moerman package. Embarrassed by achilles tendon pain, the interior of Efes Istanbul was "not in full possession of its means" and preferred to give up.
This defection, which comes after that of the leader Thomas Heurtel, limits the options of the coach Vincent Collet, which should take at least thirteen players in China and establish only later the final list of twelve. It has up to 48 hours before the first match, on September 1 against Germany, to do it.
Those who will not get on the plane could be Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, little used and not on the scoresheet on Saturday, and one of two leaders Theo Maledon, touched on the shoulder Friday and at rest, or Elie Okobo , who did his best game Saturday (10 points). Unless the coach postpones the choice between men.
Against Argentina, which has more of its golden generation than Luis Scola (16 points), still on the bridge at 39, the French have confirmed the good impression left the day against the Brazilians (86-72). ).
Effective in defense, rulers rebounding, they gave themselves the opportunity to run. In this register, they are difficult to stop. One of the good news was the awakening of the leader Frank Ntilikina (8 points in the first period), suffering from the beginning of the preparation (as for two years at the Knicks in NBA).
Mathias Lessort, explosive, dominated on the inside (13 points) and Nando De Colo (11 points) confirmed his good form after being hampered by a problem at the calf at the beginning of the month. Nicolas Batum scored nine points and took 9 rebounds.
© 2019 AFP