By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
BEIJING – After getting a big win against the USA, the French national team simply couldn’t match the level of energy demonstrated by Argentina.
Team captain Nicolas Batum accepted the fact that France didn’t react: “We never knew how to respond to their aggressiveness, on both sides of the court. They deserved to win, they clearly deserved the victory today”.
Batum didn’t accept any excuses for the defeat, despite the fact that Argentina got one extra day of rest: “They made the same trip with us, we were on the same plane, we did the same route on both sides. We missed a lot of free throws. They were much more ready”.
And France has now to react and win the bronze: “We still have one game. We have to move on, beat Australia. We were not good tonight, we were not ourselves. Argentina was great. We must not decompose because we have one more game to win”.
Photo credit: FIBA.Basketball