JAKARTA (Indonesia) – Latvia despatched shock waves across the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 after eliminating France in an exciting contest, 88-86.
The World Cup debutants rallied from 13 factors right down to ebook their place within the Second Round – alongside Canada – as pre-tournament contenders France misplaced consecutive video games within the preliminary spherical for the primary time since 2010.
The turning level: France’s Nando De Colo was whistled for his second unsportsmanlike foul of the sport and despatched out on the 6:46 mark of the fourth quarter. The momentum modified and Latvia went on a 10-3 run to trim the deficit, 77-76, with 4:42 to go.
Latvia leaned on robust performs from Arturs Zagars and Rolands Smits to take the lead once more at 87-86, with 37.7 seconds to go. France failed to attain after their final timeout, whereas Latvia then cut up their final two free throws and Silvain Francisco missed a possible game-winning three in the long run.
TCL Player of the Game: Arturs Zagars was far and wide — in one of the simplest ways doable. With talisman Dairis Bertans nursing foul hassle, Zagars stepped up massive time. He scored a team-high 22 factors on 8-of-11 subject aim taking pictures on prime of 5 assists and a couple of steals.
Roland Smits added 20 factors on 8-of-10 taking pictures with Davis Bertans contributing 15 factors from the bench as Latvia celebrated a historic triumph.
Stats do not lie: Latvia outscored France 26-12, within the fourth quarter in an enormous fightback. Les Bleus held a lead of as many as 13 factors, and so they have been nonetheless forward up till the final 37.7 seconds. Latvia compelled France to 6 expensive turnovers within the last interval, the place Latvia additionally hit 8-of-12 free throws – holding their nerve for a well-known win.
Bottom line: What a surprising consequence for Latvia. Not content material with simply being on the World Cup for the primary time, they’ve made some critical noise – fairly actually with their hundreds of followers in attendance – and shall be heading onto the Second Round with a shootout for prime spot with Canada first on Tuesday.
As for France, they have been candidates to doubtlessly carry the trophy in Manilla – now they will not even be getting on the aircraft after two exceptional, but contrasting defeats. Evan Fournier fired in 27 factors, however the French offense stumbled within the fourth in comparable vogue to their second half effort towards Canada.
They mentioned: “We let lots of people down. Everybody — from gamers, to coaches, to workers, to the federation. We must ask ourselves, ‘Why? Why we’re France? Why we’re so profitable and have been a prime crew for the final 10 years?’ Today was an enormous actuality test for us. When we put on that blue and white with the identify in entrance — that is the largest a part of this, the identify on the entrance of the jersey. And… we did not do it the final couple of weeks. It’s an enormous disappointment for us. We’re gonna get crushed, however that is sports activities. We must, me as a frontrunner, we’ve got to know what we’ve got to do higher for this crew.” – France ahead Nicolas Batum
“Congratulations to Latvia. They have been preventing for 40 minutes, and so they obtained the reward of their efforts and dedication. First, for certain, it is a nightmare (for us) after the defeat final Friday. We have been anticipating a response. I feel we obtained it. In the primary three quarters, we performed significantly better, nevertheless it was not sufficient as a result of we’ve got suffered from… we sensed that our spirit was not on the Latvian degree. I feel that made the distinction within the final couple of minutes. For certain, there was additionally the unsportsmanlike foul on De Colo, which modified the sport when it occurred.” – France coach Vincent Collet
“It is the largest win in Latvian basketball historical past since 1935. It’s an unbelievable feeling having this many followers within the building coming from Latvia making an extended journey and getting a win like this towards one of many prime groups on this planet. We felt like we have been enjoying at home. It’s an unbelievable feeling. Honestly, I’ve not many phrases to say about that.” – Latvia ahead Davis Bertans
“It’s robust to touch upon a sport like this. It’s simply, wow. That’s the primary feeling I had in my thoughts, on the finish of the sport, on the final shot after I realized what we did. It was a tremendous effort for your entire 40 minutes, making an attempt to proceed to observe our plan regardless of the numbers. We did a tremendous job. I imagine it is time after all for our followers to have fun, however to start with, now our gamers have to take a while to understand the style of such a activity.” – Latvia coach Luca Banchi
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