By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
The game between France and Spain could have been the final of Eurobasket 2013. After all it was the final of Eurobasket 2011 and now the two teams have to face each other in the semifinal and despite having already won a silver medal two years ago, Boris Diaw and his French team are looking for something better: “We are still looking for the gold. That’s the main goal, I think for any European basketball player. It’s just gives us some confidence. We are a little bit happy now, because we make it to the semifinal, but on the same time we have to think about this game”.
In the quarterfinal France proved its class by beating Eurobasket host Slovenia, something that made Diaw proud because the team didn’t crack: “It was a very tough game, the hardest we had in this championship. It was a really hard one, playing against Slovenia at their home and they played relentless, they always tried to come back and I think that the main think was mentally to stay in the game, stay ahead and don’t crack. Even if we did few mistakes, because of our concentration or maybe some of us being young and making some stupid mistakes, overall we had a good game”.
So what will happen in the semifinal? Who will prevail? “Most likely, the most athletic team will win, but in the game against Slovenia there was a lot of experience too. It’s a fact that we have played as a team together in many championships, we acquired some experience, getting better year by year and that’s the kind of game that we know how to play”.