[1/2 Finals - Day 1] France - Spain

[mchale]

My impression when watching the game was that the refs helped France for three quarters and on the last quarter they had bad calls for both teams. Overall refs haven't decided the game. The game was decided by Gasol determination which inspired his teammates and by his skill of course. Coming back from a 10 point deficit with the crowd cheering for the opponent means that you have balls.

The fouls were 16-26 for Spain we know who got the calls.And you didn't see how they came back from the 10 point deficit?With fouls.When spain trails the refs give usually spain fouls!Gasol shot more free throws than the whole french team.I can't get how a skill center not a power center like shaq or pecovic gets so many free throws.
And the answer is with flops!!

[miloje]

Tony Parker after sleepless night: 'what have I done to deserve this?'

[Darrell Armstrong]

The fouls were 16-26 for Spain we know who got the calls.And you didn't see how they came back from the 10 point deficit?With fouls.When spain trails the refs give usually spain fouls!Gasol shot more free throws than the whole french team.I can't get how a skill center not a power center like shaq or pecovic gets so many free throws.
And the answer is with flops!!

Take the blinders off, man. Teams that attack the basket usually get more fouls than those that rely on the long jumper. As do teams which go for the fast break opposed to those who try to impose a slower pace and prefer to foul rather than concede an easy basket. Watch the game and guess who's who. But pay attention and don't make a fool of yourself, like Gobert did twice yesterday. First on the court, and then off it with this poorly thought-out excuse:

"Hard to play when somebody can touch you but you can't touch him!"

You'd think he spent most of the game on the bench with foul trouble. Well. Not really. He was called for his 1st foul after 26 minutes of play. 26 minutes he could "touch" Gasol all he wanted. Regulation ended and Gasol had only drawn 3 fouls on him. Still needed overtime to play 31 minutes and finally foul out. Wow. How did he manage to keep a clear head when the refs were so obviously against him? By the way, Gasol was called for a foul defending Gobert in the 2nd quarter, so for a good chunk of the game it was Gasol 1, Gobert 0. Even well into the 4th quarter, the count was Gasol 1, Gobert 2. Unbearable.

[usagre]

Tony Parker after sleepless night: 'what have I done to deserve this?'

I think he sleeps fine at night. Eurobasket champion, 4 time nba champ and once finals MVP.
If he can't sleep it's only because he realizes age catches up to everyone.

[Pera Peric]

He didn't do anything, that was the problem.

[Luíz for 3]

no, that wasnt a foul. video shows clearly, almoust no contact
https://twitter.com/bballbreakdown/s...17485937848320

Agreed. Lauvergne clearly lost the "chair" when trying to box-out Gasol but he had already moved. Good no-call

[raph]

Collet acknowledged that his choice to finish the game with Diaw-Parker had more to do with the respect he had for them and their dedication through various campaigns to the NT than a real choice for winning that game. He also admited this would yield a lot of criticism but apparently, other players were on the same page.
He was pissed at some ticky fouls Gasol had away from the basket that had sent him on the ft line. Not necessary Gobert's fouls, i think he had in mind some of the fouls Diaw received when he was defending Gasol. But this is just a smokescreen as he perfectly knows that what prevented the team from moving forward after a tactic which was after all paying off (i would not blink even if Gasol had 60 pts, as long as other ppl were shut down) is the usual hero ball & 1/1 offense at the end when we should have patiently transfer the ball and attack the basket when it was wise to do it (or shoot a friggin open shot).

[Kwijibo]

They proved that they are second and third best team here. Great game

Muahahhaa what a nerd your team hansn't got any medal this tournament

[jesquique]

for me the key was the Tony Parker worst game i have ever seen.
a normal Parker game and France had won easily.
The best Gasol and the worst Parker= Overtime....
The rest of french team played as usual. Maybe Batum could play a little better.
Referees shared mistakes with both teams during the match,
but Gasol made a foul to Batum when only a second remained.
Batum was running and Gasol put his leg against Batum´s thigh.
Had Batum scored one free throw at least when France tied Spain at 66 points? probably.
In overtime it was clear the Gasol foul against Lauvergne after Rodriguez three point throw,
but i don´t think Lauverge scored two free throws...and Spain won by one point at that moment.
The best player is always who didn´t play...for us.
Heurtel is a bad point guard who does not know to rule the game: because of this, Real Madrid defeated Efes Pilsen.
but last year Heurtel played his better match against Spain...he scored as he never did it in Baskonia, i know it so well.
Basket is not maths.
I don´t like Collet...De Colo is a bad point guard as Heurtel: De Colo is only a shooter who fails in tha last balls of the games.
Collet was not so brave to put Westermann on court to rest Parker.And Spain recovered...
Leo is not a child, is 23 and can rule a game better that Heurtel and De Colo.
French people watched Rodrigue Beaubois this years in your league.
I did not watch him...but for me it´s hard to understand that a NBA as him was not better than Heurtel and De Colo as point guard.
I am spanish and i have tried to be as independent as i can.
I am curious about what french people think about my opinion.

[raph]

for me the key was the Tony Parker worst game i have ever seen.
a normal Parker game and France had won easily.
The best Gasol and the worst Parker= Overtime....
The rest of french team played as usual. Maybe Batum could play a little better.
Referees shared mistakes with both teams during the match,
but Gasol made a foul to Batum when only a second remained.
Batum was running and Gasol put his leg against Batum´s thigh.
Had Batum scored one free throw at least when France tied Spain at 66 points? probably.
In overtime it was clear the Gasol foul against Lauvergne after Rodriguez three point throw,
but i don´t think Lauverge scored two free throws...and Spain won by one point at that moment.
The best player is always who didn´t play...for us.
Heurtel is a bad point guard who does not know to rule the game: because of this, Real Madrid defeated Efes Pilsen.
but last year Heurtel played his better match against Spain...he scored as he never did it in Baskonia, i know it so well.
Basket is not maths.
I don´t like Collet...De Colo is a bad point guard as Heurtel: De Colo is only a shooter who fails in tha last balls of the games.
Collet was not so brave to put Westermann on court to rest Parker.And Spain recovered...
Leo is not a child, is 23 and can rule a game better that Heurtel and De Colo.
French people watched Rodrigue Beaubois this years in your league.
I did not watch him...but for me it´s hard to understand that a NBA as him was not better than Heurtel and De Colo as point guard.
I am spanish and i have tried to be as independent as i can.
I am curious about what french people think about my opinion.

Some points are valid, but for some i beg to differ.

First of all, Parker was a shade of himself scoring wise for the whole tournament. The difference between other games and the smei final is that Collet left him on the court much longer. In other games, he used de colo, westermann and even fournier to start the offense.
We do have a lot of combo's, especially if you add Diot who was injured. But collet did pretty well with them in the past, so no reason to have a true pg especially when you consider the minutes you have to leave to Parker. Beaubois is not an option here, as he is a bad pg (cannot control the tempo, score first player, very poor defender) but we will see if he can improve with Collet in Strasbourg. Plus Beaubois is highly dependent on his shoot to bring anything, if he does not score, he tends to get out of focus (talk with ref etc).
Which is the main issue i have (and many now, too bad we needed to have a bad Parker for people to realize it). Both Heurtel and Parker are total liabilities in defense, De Colo is not that good but he improved at least, so you it is an option.
We don't have any Rodriguez for now and for the future, the closest option we have for now is Ory, and he has years before he can run the team (as long as he proves himself worth of it).

Many here think Collet should have replied to Scarolio small ball option (which was the best solution against the Gobert/Lauvergne association Collet tried at a moment when we had trouble bringing the ball inside in the 4th) by puting the batum-De Colo-Gelabale option. He did not dare because of Parker (and because of Parker he needs help defense all the time....).
Westermann is not an option here. He does a lot of mistakes when under pressure (to's). I deeply missed Diot, as he used to be clutch for us when Parker was bringing nothing in the past.

The main problem we had was the playing time for Parker since he only plays one side of the court. And when he cannot deliver, he is costing us points (which was the case).
Other explanation was our trouble finding solution inside when Gobert was out of the game. Even if Gobert is not a scary offensive weapon, he brings transition, tips in, offensive boards, some occasional post move and hook shots, a good efficicency at the ft line too. Lauvergne was showing his limits at the C spot against spain, even if has done a good Eurobasket. And when Gobert got his fourth, we lost our offense ; not saying Gobert picks are better, but there must be something with his timing compare to lauvergne's who is always on next action instead of focusing on doing well the first one he has to do.

As for what you said about fouls, i could not agree more. Lull and Reyes did not have a fair treatment in that game, even if Gasol should not have had some calls sometimes. Lauvergne was lucky with some no calls too, and overall, we did not lose because of Pau's heroics, we lost because of the time that spent Parker on the court. Even though Collet did it on purpose and knew he would be criticized for it.

By the way, we heard today on the news about an article from a journalist from Le Monde about suspicion concerning Gasol. Just know that this is nothing serious for anyone here, and as i have read on some articles, it sounds like someone wanting to get self promotion for his blog. Respect for Gasol is big here and well deserved (don't ask me for Rudy though ^^).

[jesquique]

thank you for your detailed answer.
as you said, Beaubois and Heurtel are similars, but Beaubois is more talented.
Parker did not play this way in NBA last year: what happened this summer?
Parker got that Rodriguez and Reyes made fouls...even he failed the free throws.
If De Colo play more minutes as point guard, Spain had won more easily.
If you fail free throws in a tied match, you always lose...
I am a Real Madrid fan and i don´t like Rudy: overrated skills and stupid character.

[Mr Chacho]

thank you for your detailed answer.
as you said, Beaubois and Heurtel are similars, but Beaubois is more talented.
Parker did not play this way in NBA last year: what happened this summer?
Parker got that Rodriguez and Reyes made fouls...even he failed the free throws.
If De Colo play more minutes as point guard, Spain had won more easily.
If you fail free throws in a tied match, you always lose...
I am a Real Madrid fan and i don´t like Rudy: overrated skills and stupid character.

Overrated skills. Stupid behaviour of course, but overrated skills when he is one of the most complete players on both sides in Europe?