A miracle. There are no other words to describe the victory of the French team against Turkey this Saturday. While we thought they were at the bottom of the hole and after a choke in the rules of the art by Cedi Osman, the Blues snatched an unexpected qualification. In the role of the hero? Mister Rudy Gobert, absolutely sensational in the money time.
A year ago, we had the legendary block of Nicolas Batum against Slovenia. At the beginning of the afternoon this Saturday, we had Rudy Gobert’s tap dunk against Turkey. On the scale of mythical moments in the history of EDF, Nico’s counter is difficult to achieve but Rudy’s action in the last seconds of the round of 16 is just as decisive. We redo the complete sequence live, before taking a good shower because we still sweated well.
77-75 for Turkey with 12 seconds on the clock, Cedi Osman is alone on the free throw line after a so-called unsportsmanlike foul by Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot. At that time we are very very badly since in addition to the two throws, the Turks recover possession behind. In other words, it would take an unlikely alignment of planets to survive. And then Cedi misses a throw, then a second, and suddenly everything becomes possible again. When Evan Fournier manages to intercept the swell thanks to the French defensive pressure during the throw-in that follows, we are starting to believe in a miracle, a miracle that will materialize thanks to our national Rudy Gobert. As the last seconds tick by, Vavane tries to find an opening and ends up trying a short runner. Gameover? No ladies and gentlemen! “When I saw Evan leave I thought either he’ll put it in or I’ll get the rebound. When I saw it was going to be short, I prepared to finish strong. » Boom, Rudy unleashes a huge tap dunk to put the two teams at 77-77. The Blues are alive!
RUDY GOBERT!!!#EuroBasket x #BringTheNoise
📺 https://t.co/XA74VljBO4 pic.twitter.com/CBTWuYNBt6
— #EuroBasket 2022 (@EuroBasket) September 10, 2022
Fournier – in the hard all match and especially in the money time with turnovers that could be described as dramatic – can say thank you to his great friend. The whole team can say thank you to him. The whole of France can say thank you to him. But that’s actually just the beginning. Because Rudy, he will not only defend the ball carrier during the final stop two seconds from the end, but above all he will do a huge job then in extra time, all that with four faults on the clock. Offensive rebound lay-up after a failure by Amath M’Baye, 79-77 for the Blues. Tip-in offensive rebound after a miss from Thomas Heurtel, 81-77 for EDF. It’s good, France will never look back, despite the great fears of the last moments of the match. Ultra dominant to swallow everything that moves during the overtime, the Gobe will finish his meeting with 20 points (7/11 in shooting), 17 rebounds including 7 offensive, and 1 against in 30 minutes of play. Certainly his two throws- Missed francs at 87-86 for the Blues and 13 seconds on the clock could have been very expensive if Terry Tarpey had not arisen to put the cover through an interception, but the basketball gods were with Rudy this Saturday. Gobert simply had his best match of the Euros and symbolizes the overall domination of the Blues in the rackets (45-31 for France on the rebound, 50-22 on points in the paint), where the Turkish nugget Alperen Sengun (8 points and 5 rebounds in 22 minutes) has not really emerged.
“Do I still believe in myself? If I don’t believe in myself, who will? I don’t just believe in myself, I believe in the whole team, I believe in the group, and we didn’t work so hard to lose in the eighth. »
– Rudy Gobert at the microphone of Canal + after his performance ‘XXL
Thank you Rudy, thank you Rudy, and again thank you Rudy. La Gobe has not always been at his best during the first round of the Euro, but this Saturday it is he who really saves the Blues against Turkey. And if there is a medal at the end, we will long remember this tap dunk almost at the buzzer.