Paris (AFP)
French basketball players won their first victory over New Zealand, 95-81, on Saturday at the Shenyang (north) preparation tournament, eight days before the start of the World Cup.
There are two friendly matches on Sunday (09:30) against Italy and Tuesday (13:30) against Serbia to the Blues to refine their settings and the coach Vincent Collet to choose his final list of twelve.
This match against the modest "Tall Blacks", for which Evan Fournier and Andrew Albicy were left to rest, may not have given him a definitive answer on the identity of the two men who will fly to Europe before the first match of the World Cup against Germany, next Sunday in Shenzhen.
As the leader, Theo Maledon, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, was not used and Elie Okobo was not very convincing. In strong wingers, neither Amath M'Baye nor Louis Labeyrie made the difference. Among the players in balance, the back Paul Lacombe delivered the most complete match.
As often in recent weeks, the French have made the gap to the return of the locker room (11-0 to start the 3rd quarter) by imposing their physical superiority inside with Vincent Poirier and Rudy Gobert and looking after their game. passes.
In the first period, they were too lax on the three-point shooters New Zealand, they had up to eight points behind. It was Nando De Colo (16 points in the first half) that kept them in touch at the break (42-43).
The last two preparation matches will allow you to know more about the real level of the team. Italy has just recovered two major players, Danilo Gallinari and Luigi Datome who, with Marco Belinelli, can allow him to create surprises at the World Cup. The Serbs are the first underdogs for the title behind the Americans with their NBA players Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
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