For the first minutes of play during the Olympic preparation of Rudy Gobert and Nicolas Batum, the French basketball players ended up giving in against Spain 87 to 79, Saturday evening in Paris-Bercy, a few days before flying to the Japan and the Tokyo Games.
The Blues had already bowed against these same Spaniards, reigning world champions, 86 to 77 Thursday in Malaga, but were able to almost evolve in Olympic mode on Saturday night, only Thomas Heurtel being still unavailable, pending the results of the medical exams taken with his Real Madrid team.
Arrived in the group respectively Wednesday and Friday, Rudy Gobert and Nicolas Batum had announced their desire to participate in this shock against the great Spanish rival. The two NBA players, mobilized during the play-offs by their franchise (Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers), played for more than twenty minutes each.
Captain Batum even raised the cursor until the half hour mark (31 minutes), the player most used by coach Vincent Collet on Saturday night in a Paris-Bercy room filled with more than 9,000 spectators (9,214), who tried to play his role of sixth man.
“There have been some good things. We found that we were too nice in the first half, we raised the level of intensity in the second half. We still have a lot of work to do, it was encouraging. The last time I played was three weeks ago against the Clippers. Today was my scrub ”, commented Rudy Gobert (12 points, 4 rebounds) after the meeting at the microphone of the channel L’Equipe.
–
For his return, Rudy Gobert played almost 23 minutes, for 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. © YOAN VALAT / EPA / MAXPPP
Departure Wednesday for Japan
As often in the matches between the French and the Spaniards, there was sometimes tension on the floor, like the unsportsmanlike foul whistled against the Spaniard Alberto Abalde at the start of the third quarter which allowed the Blues to relaunch in a game hitherto dominated and controlled by the La Roja collective.
The two teams were each slightly detached in the score, but in the last five minutes, the Spaniards finally got the better, helped by 22 points from Ricky Rubio and 16 from Willy Hernangomez. The 15 points of Evan Fournier, top French scorer, were not enough.
Vincent Collet’s players will fly to Japan on July 14. Before starting their Olympic tournament on July 25 against the United States, Nicolas Batum’s teammates will play two final preparation matches, against Japan (18th) and Italy (20th) in Oshino.
At the Games in Tokyo, the French are in a group with the United States, the surprising Czech Republic and Iran. They will have to take one of the first two places or finish among the two best third (out of four) to reach the quarter-finals.
– .
