Funny sport, basketball… Where a team is capable of going an entire quarter without making a basket in the game (65-84, 31e minute), before overturning the table in five minutes (89-88, 35e), thanks to an all-terrain press and a crazy shot from Maksim Salash (16 points of his 21 points), who ended up missing the equalizer at the buzzer (99-102, final score). This would have been highly improbable, and JL Bourg was also the victim (or guilty, above all) of an adage as old as this game: it’s one thing to come back to score, it’s quite another to really pass in front. At least we’ll say it was an entertaining evening.
“We didn’t want to defend”
But you don’t win European Cup matches by delivering an entertaining performance (99-102, final score). Worse, this now tends to put the qualification of the Burgian finalist in danger, with its two recent executioners, Cluj-Napoca and Venice, who are tied (6v-6d) in a grouping which goes from 5e at 7e place. However, only the first six places in the group qualify. “We could have done the right thing for the day by returning to second place but we’re getting into difficulty, that’s the story of this team”regrets Frédéric Fauthoux. Small consolation: the Bressans preserved the average basket.
It was the bare minimum that they could achieve this Wednesday, after a 22-point victory in the first leg (88-66). Because for the rest… Between the fault problems of the pivots (5 in 11 minutes for Kevin Kokila, 4 in 6 minutes for Jean-Marc Pansa), a defense with absent subscribers (all the outside players at 0 faults at half-time! ), an intensity worthy of an All-Star Game (that is to say entirely relative), the enormous air hole of the third quarter (from 50-43 to 65-84) and the wrists which tremble on the penalty line in the money-time (3/6 in the last four minutes), difficult to hope for anything for the Burgiens.
Brandon Jefferson expected
“We didn’t deserve to win, we didn’t have the right attitude to play a high-level match”rails the coach. “We didn’t want to defend, we weren’t able to make a save. What’s crazy is that we were able to do it on Saturday in Cholet (102-67) and that three days later, we don’t want to. I think the players are not mentally preparing properly to play a high-level match. This further proves the youth and immaturity of certain players who are not used to approaching matches in the right way. » At 11:36 p.m. (again a strange time for such an announcement), the end of the evening in Burgundy came to life with the official signing of Brandon Jefferson, the former top scorer for Betclic ÉLITE. Or a little experience to compensate for the lack of experience of many. But certainly not the one that will revolutionize local defense!
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In Bourg-en-Bresse,
