For total basketball, we'll have to wait a little longer. But after all, should we really expect anything else after only four collective training sessions and five rookies on the team?! That the Cypriots were still ahead in the 29th minute (50-49), perhaps not of course, but we suspected that the new version of the French team would be far from being flamboyant for its big premiere. Too few automatisms, a little stress surely, and a very particular context: for total basketball, we will come back this summer.
And precisely because the Blues of today provide the essentials that the Blues of tomorrow will be able to try to develop the game advocated by Frédéric Fauthoux, the new coach. Already alone at the top of Group E, the French team scored a third victory in a row in Cyprus, which brings it a little closer to EuroBasket 2025. And that's the most important thing…
Makoundou releases the Blues
Still, this match was a bit of a pain from start to finish, except for Nicolas Lang's initial basket (what a nod that the first points of the Fauthoux era were the work of the Limoges CSP captain…) and the fourth quarter where the Blues finally broke free. Otherwise, with a zone defense and an insolent address (Konstantinos Simitzis at 5/6 at 3-points at the end of the third quarter), the 82nd in the FIBA ranking have long refused the status of expiatory victim. It took a huge series from Yoan Makoundou at the start of the fourth quarter (13 points in a row) to definitively defeat the Cypriots (52-66, 35th minute).
Definitely ? Not quite, since it was also necessary to count on a contentious counterattack from Amine Noua to prevent the locals from returning to -5: with the counterattack from Axel Bouteille (15 points) and the technical foul which followed , the delta between 61-66 and 59-69 was enormous at the start of money-time.
Regardless of the sometimes laborious content (like the young Nolan Traoré and Noa Essengue, who will have other opportunities to shine in the national jersey), the French team had to win. It is also in this type of trap that a collective can be forged, especially since the bases were there: a good state of mind, the defensive identity of the Olympic vice-champions (only 59 points conceded) and a true sense of sharing (20 assists). “It’s never easy to play an international match, especially with a new team, assembled on Monday, and which only had four training sessions in common”pleads Freddy Fauthoux. « Cyprus played a good match, it was tough so that's why it's a very good victory. It's positive because we also saw great team spirit: that's important with so little shared training. » See you on Sunday in Poitiers, with a few more sessions in your legs!
