Saitama (Japan) (AFP)

Three out of three: the French basketball players, winner of the Iranians (79-62) on Saturday in Saitama, ended their group stage with a new victory, filling up with confidence while waiting to know their opponents in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament.

Amazing winners of Team USA (83-76) at the opening of the competition at the Tokyo Games six days ago, then of the Czech Republic (97-77) on Wednesday, and therefore already assured of finishing first in group A even before this meeting, the Blues did not force their talent to win, which is more to an unusual morning schedule (10:00 am local, 3:00 am in France).

Above all, they avoided the pitfall of injury, which sometimes happens in this kind of match.

They were even finally able to recover the leader Frank Ntilikina, who had missed the first two matches due to muscle discomfort, and achieved his almost 19 first Olympic minutes satisfactorily (3 pts, 4 assists).

Faced with Iranians already eliminated, the French first unrolled their basketball by relying on their defense, limiting the opposing address to 29% in the first period (34% in the end), which allowed them to score enough often in counter-attacks, sometimes adding the manner with alley-oop (passes converted into a dunk or basket in the air) of Rudy Gobert (6 pts) and Thimoté Luwawu-Cabarrot (12 pts, 5 rbds) which has showed some pep.

- Frames saved -

It was after a stroke of heat from Thomas Heurtel, author of twelve points in a row (16 in total), that the gap peaked at 22 units at the end of the first period.

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The third quarter was on the other hand that of a relaxation, because Vincent Collet's men showed nonchalance in attack, between missed double-steps and loss of balls, Gobert for his part being too easily countered by Hamed Haddadi (18 pts, 12 rbds), hero of his country, who smiled.

The Blues, who thus let Iran return to 13 lengths, finally recovered a little, thanks in particular to the new good contribution of Vincent Poirier (10 pts), under the eyes of executives in the economy like d 'Evan Fournier (3 pts in 14 min).

The lights being green, the Blues must now wait until Sunday evening to discover the team they will face in the quarterfinals, according to the draw made at the end of the first phase.

According to the rules, the first three of each group, of which they are part, as well as the best runner-up will be placed in one pot, and the other two runners-up as well as the two best runners-up will be in the other.

© 2021 AFP