Shenyang (China) (AFP)
The French basketball players finished their preparation for the World Cup with a defeat against Serbia 61-56 in a strange match on Tuesday in Shenyang, where the two teams obviously did not want to show everything to four days of their entry in the running.
Coach Vincent Collet is expected to announce the names of the two players who will take the plane back to Europe. The young leader Theo Maledon, who was not on the score sheet, was certainly one of them.
For the last place, Elie Okobo had a big time of play against the Serbs but did not convince (4 points). If he was the last player dismissed, the group would leave with only two leaders (Andrew Albicy and Frank Ntilikina), the rear Nando De Colo and Paul Lacombe can ensure some relay on this post when needed.
The two rivals had left key elements on the bench, Nando De Colo French side, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica Serb side. Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum remained on the bench in the last minutes, proof that the final result was not important.
Difficult to draw conclusions but we note that with two NBA players in reserve, their star Nikola Jokic playing at two and their giant Boban Marjanovic (2.21 m) used only one half, the vice-Olympic, world and European champions have managed to win.
Both teams had their half-time, the first for the French (32-23) and the second for the Serbs (38-24). The Blues defended strongly early in the game but struggled to use their interiors after the break against the big Serbian jigs, which led to an excess of three-point shooting with little success (6/26). Nicolas Batum and Rudy Gobert were the two best French scorers with 9 and 8 points.
The Blues will now make a long flight from Shenyang (north) to Shenzhen (south) where they will face Germany in their first match of the World Sunday at 14:30 French time. Victory is essential in the context of qualifying for the quarter-finals.
© 2019 AFP