The French basketball team was very scared on Tuesday at the World Cup in Jakarta, narrowly avoiding a humiliating defeat against Lebanon (85-79) after the debacles against Canada (95-65) and Latvia (88- 86), synonymous with a pitiful elimination in the first round.
Faced with the 43rd nation in the world previously crushed by Latvia (109-70) then Canada (128-73), the Blues, who came to Asia to win the title, only definitively took the lead at just over six minutes of the siren. And the Lebanese were only three lengths behind a minute from the end (82-79), before an award-winning shot from captain Nicolas Batum thirty seconds from the buzzer sealing the victory. They even accused up to ten points behind in the second quarter (25-35) after a new lost ball by Evan Fournier (3 at halftime).
Four lengths behind at the very beginning of the final period (60-64), they ended up giving in the Lebanese, who had long benefited from an apathetic defense, particularly on the penetrations inside, where the leader Wael Arakji (21 pts at halftime, 29 in the end) enjoyed himself.
France played without a professional pivot, after the withdrawals for this match from Rudy Gobert (ankle) and Moustapha Fall (toothache), and that for the rest of the competition from Mathias Lessort, resting after the ankle injury which made him miss all the collective preparation.
The Blues, who once again lost a lot of balls (16), relied in the last quarter on the energy of Isaïa Cordinier (10 pts in the end) and the talent of Elie Okobo (12 pts), remained on the bench for a good part of the match before being revived by coach Vincent Collet.
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