first, the good news. With the surprising defeat of Saint-Chamond, Wednesday on his prosecution against Fos-sur-Mer (83-84) in the advanced match of the 37e day, Elan, fragile 5th, can no longer finish beyond 10e place. It is therefore guaranteed to participate in the final stages which will allocate the second ticket for the Elite to the only winner. It remains to be seen with which bib number on the back the Palois will throw themselves into the pit where ten crocodiles in furious.
Two days before the Rideau Du Curtain de la season regular, all the scenarios are still open: most optimistic, a 4e or 5e place that would guarantee a quarter -final with the advantage of the field, at the most realistic, the 6e place that qualifies for the quarters against 4e Without the advantage of the field, to the most anxiety-provoking with the obligation to go through the play-in (1).
“Honestly, we don’t think about that for the moment,” says Mickaël Hay. There are two games to play, it would be good to catch at least one. I think that a victory would be enough to be directly in the playoffs, it will also depend on all the other results. »»
No Bastien Pinault before the final stages
What is certain is that the coach will have to do without Bastien Pinault, his second best offensive asset (15.1 points at 48.3 % at 3 points) and catalyst for opposing defenses, for the two capital matches to come. The Palois fireworks has just been a second time this Wednesday afternoon, which forces him to observe a paternity leave of seven days. “There are more important things than basketball, so you still have to put things into perspective”, philosopher Mickaël Hay while recognizing “that it does not necessarily fall at the right time in terms of timing”.
A package that still changes the collective balance regularly undermined. Between the premature season ends of Marsillon (ankle) and Sidibé (thigh), the shoulder pain of Speight (10 minutes in Boulazac), the recent arrival of Jordan Minor, and now the paternity of Pinault, the coach must juggle between the configurations. A balancingist work that has its limits. “We are used to this year. From the first week, Dalil (Hadi) was injured. Since then, assures Hay, I have the impression that there was not a week when something is happening. These are not excuses at all, it’s like that. But every time you move a balance, you lack stability, ”also knows the technician.
“We managed to catch two victories in Orleans and Aix having only two interiors. Afterwards, you also pay it, you have to cheat defensively. Suddenly, we lost the thread of what we had to do defensively. On the last games, we take a lot of points, notes the coach, when it was a sector where we had progressed enormously. We had stored victories (six in a row before the reverse of Boulazac and Denain, editor’s note) because we defended hard. We could not return to our guideline because the group is still in total evolution. We must therefore compensate for it by something else: the determination of wanting to oppose the opponent, to want to keep your head high, more solidarity. »»
Blois, it’s solid everywhere
A refrain that accompanies this team since his genesis and who still forced Mickaël Hay to raise the tone on the return from Denain: “We were so inside everything, that instead of talking about the next opponent, we had to focus on ourselves, we had to put the points back on the” i “, on certain things that we could have done better, to come back to what we know how to do in terms of determination. Everyone has to play on their personal strengths, that you are not trying to reinvent basketball because there, you become absolutely ineffective, there is nothing to invent. ”
Especially at this crucial moment of the season, on the occasion of a last reception which could not be more flashy with Blois, coeader of the championship with Boulazac but better placed for direct accession in Elite thanks to a better general point. An ADA which laid its sneakers in Béarn, with a new rear, Jordan Davis, in formidable stats, a morale in good fixes thanks to its seven victories of rank, and a collective which has largely proven itself since we are talking about the 2e Best attack in the championship, 2e Defense, 3e On the passes, from the most skillful to the shots and at 3 points, in short of the best in pro B today and that the Elan hopes to offer itself in a sports palace also hoped for at the rendezvous.
(1) Play-in : match sec entre le 7e and the 8e. The winner was qualified in quarters against 3ethe defeated receives the winner of 9e against the 10e To face the 2e in the quarterfinals.
