By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Vincent Collet discussed the many mistakes his players made in the first half and the failure to prevent the Finnish squad from scoring during multiple times during the last minutes of the fourth period.
“Boris pointed the finger on our many problems tonight. Turnovers. Especially in the first half. It was a really a surprise to be leading at halftime with 15 turnovers at 20 minutes. I think our defense in the second half was better. We did a good job except for the last few possessions. We were plus 8 and we didn’t make the stops to win the game and not play an overtime. We went down again and let them come back. In overtime, they found a solution to beat us.”
On the reasons his team gave up a 9 point lead late in the fourth quarter:
“We went down defensively. We did big mistakes a couple of times. We let Wilson drive easily to the basket twice in a row. He scored for the first time and then he dished an assist. That’s the way they came back. We let them score. We had to stop them at least one time. It would have been enough. Since they scored five or six times in a row… it wasn’t possible (to stop them).
Boris Diaw: “It’s not the end of the world”
“When you make 23 turnovers, you don’t deserve to win. I think that’s something that can be easily fixed. This is not normal, it’s not part of our habits. There may have been a bit of anxiety about this game. We also made some defensive mistakes, especially on the end of the game. We were ahead (+9 four minutes before the end) and we were in a good position to win, at least in the last few minutes. Of course, we will have to win matches if we want to advance, but it is not the end of the competition. We know we can do better. The first games are always a little peculiar, it’s like the first day in school. Teams often have either euphoria or anxiety, and in front of its fans, Finland was euphoric”.
(Photo credit: FIBA.basketball)