France would be there for the quarter-finals of the Euros and the other way around would have been a huge disappointment. But she will appear there on Wednesday, thanks to two faults that have plagued her since the start of her summer campaign: a tendency to fill wagons with stray bullets (21 this Saturday) and a chronic irregularity even within meetings, this time with between the 23rd minute (49–38) and the 31st minute (49–57) a 19–0 defeat.
Stunned by this upset, while the first half had shown them in good mood and even dominating (31-15, 15th), the Blues came within a whisker of elimination. Or rather two free throws, which were missed by Cleveland Cavaliers winger Sedi Osman at +2 for Turk (77-75) and followed seven seconds from the end of the fourth quarter after a non-sportsman’s foul on Timothée Luvavu-Cabarot. possession to do.
The miracle came from an interception by Evan Fournier on a throw-in when the ball was intended for Bougrahan Tunner, replacing Shane Larkin, shaky in the second half (14 of his 22 points). It was materialized by a tap dunk from Rudy Gobert for the equalizer in the Extreme.
“We were almost saved by two of Usman’s throws but we never let go”, Amath blows up Mbe, very useful in relaying to Guerschon Yabusele for money-time play. The suspense never subsided in overtime, the Blues still blowing the heat (87-82 with 1’30” from the end), then freezing, with the last potentially decisive Turkish possession (87-86) two missed by Gobert after shots. A rare blemish in a huge performance from Pivot (20 points, 17 rebounds), which was essential to his offensive rebounds when the match was played. Luck finally struck when a stray ball from Furkan Korkmaz was well defended by M’Baye.
The Blues will therefore see a top 8 finish that is better than at the last Euro (8th-place elimination by Germany in 2017, 84–81). Weighted down by their faults, they will go out there in the position of outsiders against the winner of Wednesday’s Serbia-Italy (Sunday at 6pm), which they favor, with the first of these two nations as one of the favourites. is being announced. tournament, with their pairing of Nikola Jokic–Vasilje Micic. But from what the Blues have just experienced, everything else will only be a bonus.