By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
PARIS, France – There’s no shame in losing to the USA in basketball, but playing at home against them, coach Vincent Collet wanted even more.
As he said in the press conference, the ambitions of the French national team were bigger: “For sure it’s a great performance for us and I think we can be proud of the game we have played tonight against Team USA. But we are here to compete and we wanted more, we wanted to create something special, and for me, we were not that far”.
Collet became even more specific: “When we came back to -3 (82-79 after a three by Victor Wembanyama), a little bit more than three minutes to go, we had missed already in second half five or six free throws and we turned it over three times in the situation of fast break and this you cannot allow that against Team USA because they will make you pay”.
Collet explained that he believed that if France had taken the lead, the USA would feel the pressure: “The only thing I think about is that I would like to see how they would react if we got the lead again and we could do that if we didn’t miss this free throw or make this turn over to fast break. But perhaps Steph would make the shots the same way he made them and we would lose”.
For Collet, ultimately this final was also a lost chance: “We could do more but you have to do the perfect game and we didn’t do it at all. Still, I really think with a little bit more, we could push them much more. Okay, we did it, we were not too far but I’m sure we could do better. We had the chance, We didn’t take it and we must think about it next time”.
Photo credit: FIBA