By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.ne
On a historic day for Eurobasket all time top scorer Tony Parker, France faced the danger of an upset. Still “Les Bleus” are the only unbeaten team in Group A after beating Poland (69-66). Marcin Gortat had the last shot of the game, an open three, but couldn’t send it to overtime.
The Polish defense and created a tone of issues for France, Tony Parker had 16 points, but the tempo of the game was slow and the Eurobasket hosts never got the chance to run on the open court. On the other hand, the French defense, anchored by Rudy Gobert, was also impressive. Still in the end it became a game of will and big plays.
Adam Waczynski had 18 ponts, but his unforced turnover, when Poland was trailing by three (65-62, 1.20”) almost ended his teams hopes. Two big shots by naturalized guard A.J.Slaughter and Parker making 1/2 FT with 16 seconds to go, finally gave the chance to Poland to send the game to overtime. Slaughter was trapped, he gave the ball to open Gortat who was on the right side of the paint, he made a step back, shot a three and missed it at the buzzer.
France, as expected has now a 3-0 record, while Poland is tied with Israel at 2-1 in the second place of Group A standings.