By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Hungary had a great first half and tried to come back in the last minutes of the game in Cologne, but France first got a solid lead in the third quarter (25-14) and then kept things under control for the 78-74 win thanks to a great display by Rudy Gobert (15 p. 9 r., 6/9 FG).
With this result, France goes up 2-1 in Group B, reaching Slovenia and Bosnia in a three-way tie behind unbeaten Germany. Hungary remains winless at 0-3, just like Lithuania.
The new Minnesota Timberwolves player had his best EuroBasket 2022 performance so far, leading his team to the final victory. He was joined by Evan Fournier (12 p., 5 a.) and by the other two French bigs, Vincent Poirier (10 p., 5 r.) and Guerschon Yabusele (17 p., 6/8 FG, 4/4 FT).
“They played with a lot of heart until the last second. We had a few moments in which we were unfocused. We’ve got to keep working hard to make sure that we get better and it doesn’t happen again”, Rudy Gobert commented. “I think it was a quite difficult game, we’ve got a very good start. Unfortunately, we went down very quickly. We’re missing the fundamentals and the enthusiasm: that is what hurts me the most from this game”, coach Vincent Collet said.
On the other side, Adam Hanga (18 p. 4 r. 3 a.) came back stronger after missing the game against Slovenia due to a hamstring injury, but he was not enough. Mikael Hopkins scored 10 points but had a rough night both shooting (2/9 FG) and trying to contain Rudy Gobert.
“I want to thank our fans. The team showed character, we had a shot to take the lead at the end. We are a little disappointed, but we have things we can pick it up and look forward to”, Szilard Benke said.
“It was a very good and humble game, we did our best and we will try to learn from this game”, coach Stojan Ivkovic added.
Hungary survived until halftime, with the two teams closing the second quarter at 42-39. From then on, Rudy Gobert’s dominance started to appear under the basket, with France being way better than its opponents in both rebounds (36 vs 25) and assists (24 vs 15). A late comeback attempt by Hungary wasn’t sufficient.
France and Hungary, just like the other teams in Group B, will take a day off tomorrow, coming back to the court on Tuesday, respectively against Bosnia and Herzegovina (at 14:30) and Lithuania (at 17:15). These two games will probably decide “Group of Death” protagonists’ fate.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL