Saitama (Japan) (AFP)

In 2019, in China, his angry words freed the Blues before the victory over the United States in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

On Sunday it was on the floor that Evan Fournier guided them to a new feat (83-76) against Team USA at the Tokyo Games.

Author of 28 points, including an award-winning shot full of cool blood that definitely tipped the match in favor of the France team at 57 seconds from the buzzer, the rear released a capital performance that sits it a little more in his status as an attack leader, within a group whose main DNA genome is defensive.

"He was incredible ... He put in big shots, you need players who know how to put baskets that others cannot put. He made some, but his teammates also played for him and the It was very important for me, "said Vincent Collet, the coach of the French, who will face the Czech Republic on Wednesday in their second match.

"He delivered a performance that was all the more fantastic as it led to a victory. There is no great victory without one or two players who play these kinds of matches," he insisted.

Author of the second best performance in history at the Olympics for a French player, behind the 29 points scored by Antoine Rigaudeau against China in Sydney-2000, "Vavane" was predominant, but also inspired the team on the way to approach this first meeting in front of Americans whom he knew to be taken.

- Americans suffering from pain -

"One of my roles is to show my teammates how to play these guys. You have to make them feel that we are not going to back down, understand that they are like us, and that with the right one. approach, even though they are individually stronger, they can be beaten, ”he explained.

A speech followed by actions that made Fournier the executioner of Team USA, as two years ago in Dongguan in China, with 22 points scored in a quarter-final remained by its unprecedented character and its value - a qualification in the last world square (89-79) - as one of the greatest achievements of French basketball.

At the time, it was even before fighting on the ground that he had marked the spirits.

Instead of giving a speech that his teammates were waiting for in the middle of a formed scrum, he turned to the American team, assembled not far away, and had poured out his rage in flowery language that took everyone by surprise.

# photo1

Vincent Collet compared this stroke of blood to this unforgettable episode "where the players of the fifteenth of France had challenged the New Zealand haka by sticking their nose to that of the All Blacks" in the quarter-finals of the 2007 World Rugby.

Again with the victory at the end (20-18).

- "In scoring mode" -

In Saitama, it was as a silent killer that he appeared balloon in hand.

Faced with several stars renowned for their ability to be "clutch" (decisive in the last moments), such Damian Lillard or Kevin Durant, with whom he recently took the beak in the play-offs, the French acquitted himself. of this task in a remarkable way.

“I have a different role compared to the NBA. There the team wants me to score. I have to be more aggressive, I have to look for my shots. When I was in Boston, I played with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and I just had another role. Here, I'm in scoring mode, "he observed.

# photo2

After his performance, likely to influence his future in club, while he will be free on the market in a week, American journalists have tried to find out more.

In vain.

For the interested party, is it time for the Olympics?

in which he always dreamed of participating.

In the Land of the Rising Sun, the Olympic light shines even at night, but Fournier seemed to find the way not to be blinded, knowing full well that the gold rush will be long.

"Stoicism: the art of not letting yourself be controlled by your emotions or impulses", he wrote on his Instagram account.

© 2021 AFP