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French basketball players snatched their qualification for the Eurobasket-2022 semi-finals on Wednesday by beating Italy (93-85) after extra time in Berlin. This is their third successive major tournament semi-final, after the 2019 World Cup and the Tokyo Games last year.
The matches follow one another and look alike for the Blues. French basketball players won their ticket to the semi-finals of Eurobasket-2022 on Wednesday September 14 by defeating Italy (93-85) at the end of extra time.
“It’s been twice now,” breathed captain Evan Fournier (17 pts). “We have to stop having this air pocket during which we do nothing,” he added, referring to the disastrous third quarter of the Blues.
A new miracle
The French, Olympic vice-champions, will face in half Friday (5:15 p.m.) Slovenia of Luka Doncic or Poland, opposed Wednesday evening (8:30 p.m.). The dream of Vincent Collet’s men to conquer the continental title remains intact. And here they are for the third time in a row in the semi-finals of a major tournament, after the bronze medal of the World Cup-2019 and the silver of the Tokyo Games last summer.
However, once again, they no longer had their destiny in their hands. Like the Turkish Cedi Osman on Saturday, Simone Fontecchio (21 pts) missed the two free throws which could have put the Azzurri away sixteen seconds from the buzzer (77-75). And like Saturday, the Blues offered themselves a five-minute extension by equalizing on their last possession (77-77).
If miracles follow one another, so do air pockets in the third quarter. A 17-3 conceded (from 53-45 to 56-62) allowed the Italians to take the lead for the first time in the match. “In five minutes, there was everything, loss of balls, no withdrawal, no rebounds,” listed Evan Fournier.
Two steps away from a potential title, Vincent Collet’s men are already European champions in lost balls in this tournament (nearly 16 per match on average), their “sin” pointed to Vincent Collet, a sin confessed but still not corrected.
The Blues offered too much candy to the Italians (17 loss of balls before extra time) while depriving themselves of shots. They owe their survival for a lot to their leader Thomas Heurtel who signed a great match (20 pts, 8 passes).
With AFP