France qualified for the quarter-finals of Euro Basketball – The World

The Blues have freed of a great weight by crossing the dreaded Cape knockout of Euro thanks to a superb victory over Turkey, 76-53, on Saturday in the euphoric atmosphere Stadium Lille-Metropole.

This match-ax, the French feared since the day of the draw, As the consequences of defeat would have been calamitous: the loss of their course crown, but also the almost certain end of their hopes to participate in the Rio Olympics next summer.
Defending champions thwarted all the traps that they were tense in the wake of a transcended Nando De Colo in his Nord-Pas-de-Calais native. With 15 points and 7 assists, he splashed the game of his class, especially in the first half.

While it was feared the tension in an intimidating arena, they are left worn by 26,200 supporters, the European record for basketball, many waving tricolor flags. They also feared falling asleep after a first round mastered (5 wins in 5 matches) but poor in education face limited opponents. They also avoided the pitfall by imposing an iron defense early in the game

The gap widened before halftime

Hanging in the first quarter, the French have made the hole late in the first half (36-26 ) passing to the Turks a 14-0, Joffrey Lauvergne and Evan Fournier (12 points each in the end), out of a particularly powerful bench, which gave a valuable boost.

Once we knew that the Turks would be very difficult to return. If their trident Dixon-Ilyasova-Erden, from the smallest to the largest, had hurt before the break, their bench was too light to take over. “We drove past defensively. They played six or seven. We have worn them. We had a bit of a hot offensively and they no longer have reviewed us “, said Fournier.

The Blues are definitely soared in the third quarter (59-40) . Faced with Batum, much more inspired than in the first phase (10 points), perfect in Gelabale joker, Gobert and especially Lauvergne (9 rebounds) intimidating under the circle, the team of “Twelve giants” Turkish was too small for the French supercharged by a public singing impromptu Marseillaises. Stifled by the Blue defense, it has scored just 27 points in the second half.

Horizon Greek and Spanish

It is for Turks the road ends at the Euro and the Olympic horizon mouth almost completely. Only the two finalists décrocheront indeed a ticket to Rio. The other option: finish in the top seven to have a chance in a future Olympic qualifying tournament, except to rely on very hypothetical “wild card” FIBA ​​

When you think that in case of defeat, perhaps we would have not seen Tony Parker in the blue shirt is measured relief from all the French camp! It is unknown whether this prospect weighed on his shoulders, but the star of San Antonio has had a bad night, not scoring his first basket after 24 minutes (a low total of 5 points). Fortunately, De Colo was there to endorse the boss costume.

With this success, the Blues will continue their journey with morale high. “This hall is magical and we want to spend a lot of time” , said the coach Vincent Collet.

We would not like to be in the place of Latvians, their next opponents in the final quarter Tuesday. The Baltic seemed almost as pale as their Slovenian opponents (73-66) Saturday in the round and do not seem big enough to stand in the road of French.
The next big challenge should take place in the semifinals against Greece or Spain, with an Olympic ticket to boot.