[SemiFinals] Argentina - France

[Levenspiel]

Two teams that eliminated the favorites on the way to the semis. Which one do you think will reach the final?

[ZaliaBalta]

All in France.

[Katastroika]

Now or never for France.

[vivo]

I want Argentina because of Scola. But I give France the edge

[Modis]

France has to win to make the final any good

[HeinrichMohr]

Mind says France though heart claims for Argentina.

[Mr Chacho]

I bet for my man Facundo.

[Darrell Armstrong]

I like Argentina a lot. But watching what Gobert did to Team USA when they went small I can only imagine how hard he's going to make life for the undersized inside duo of Scola and Deck. Only way I see Argentina winning is if they go full hack-a-Shaq against him and he starts missing his free throws (he was fantastic from the line vs. USA), or frustrate him and get him into foul trouble early.

[Tesla]

I like Argentina a lot. But watching what Gobert did to Team USA when they went small I can only imagine how hard he's going to make life for the undersized inside duo of Scola and Deck. Only way I see Argentina winning is if they go full hack-a-Shaq against him and he starts missing his free throws (he was fantastic from the line vs. USA), or frustrate him and get him into foul trouble early.

Wouldn't the same issue have applied against Serbia? Four centres and the wings and the whole team were taller. I kept expecting Argentina to run into foul trouble. Scola had 3 in the third I think. Whenever he took a rest I think they fouled more but they didn't run into foul trouble. South Americans just excel at craftiness.

[Darrell Armstrong]

Wouldn't the same issue have applied against Serbia? Four centres and the wings and the whole team were taller. I kept expecting Argentina to run into foul trouble. Scola had 3 in the third I think. Whenever he took a rest I think they fouled more but they didn't run into foul trouble. South Americans just excel at craftiness.

The problem with Serbia was Djordjevic didn't commit to any of his centers. Raduljica and Marjanovic I think were ill-suited for this task anyway. Jokic is not the same kind of rim protector Gobert is. And Milutinov I think would have been able to do something if left for more than 3 minutes on the court.

France did run a lot of plays using Gobert either as a decoy to pull away defenders creating lanes for Fournier and De Colo to get to the rim, or as a roll man to finish the play against smaller defenders. This enabled France to punish a center-less opponent and their aggressive switches. On the other side, France's defensive scheme was to deny shooters while funneling attackers towards Gobert. I didn't see Serbia try to do something similar, save maybe for very short stretches. Djordjevic kept experimenting and ended up trying to fight fire with fire and going small ball with Bjelica at center.

I doubt Argentina can solve the Gobert riddle, but I keep hoping. Would rather have them in the final game than France.

[soulis79]

I think the key to this semifinal is the match-up of Ntilikina-Campazzo. Another issue for Argentina is who will guard Fournier. Garino is an option but i think he is too slow for him. On the other hand Vildoza could be the x-factor for Argentina as he did against Serbia.

It would interesting to see how the french team will react after USA win. Will this affect them negative as it did to Greece (2006)?

[Arsonist]

I observe France more deeply and I believe that the victory of the French over the United States has created an extra motivation for them, they also have more material than Argentina to achieve it.

[Shawshank]

Campazzo Vs Albicy what a matchup to watch!

I think Argentina should post up Facundo inside

[Adon]

If Argentina wins, it would be a great surprise to me

[usagre]

If Argentina wins, it would be a great surprise to me

Yeah I don’t see it. I think it would be an even greater feat than knocking out Serbia considering the mental state of current France after eliminating the US and Serbia coming off the Spain loss.