France, the champions of the turnovers at Eurobasket
Great title contender since before the competition started, France eventually reached the Finals. They could have been eliminated already by Turkey and then again by Italy. Still, the French team had plenty of luck in the last possessions and they won those games in overtime, advancing despite their vast number of turnovers.
In the final game against Spain, France actually was condemned to lose by this ugly chapter of their identity as a team: the possessions lost frequently in a stupid way! During the whole tournament, they had 142 individual turnovers plus 14 team turnovers according to: https://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2022/team/France#|tab=overview,cumulated_statistics
This means a total of 156 turnovers and 17.33 per game made by Gobert, Fournier and the company. That problem was not so important when France had some weak opponents like Poland. Les Bleus dominated that kind of team anyway, they scored open shots destroying Poland, but still, they committed many turnovers. Only in the first minutes of the game against Poland, France had 7 turnovers already!
What was not important with Poland, became a big problem in the final against Spain. Scariolo’s squad was disciplined on both sides of the court, executing with high precision in offence and defending as hell. There was no time for France to continue with their turnovers. Spain was not Poland! They punished France with 35 points scored from turnovers, while France scored only 7 points at that chapter.
When France had that comeback re-entering the game with an amazing run, they could try to win! They came at only 1 possession to Spain, but the turnovers stopped them in a tragic way! With that kind of play, France had no chance, being their no.1 obstacle to winning the trophy! France itself was the best Spanish ally. Maybe they can learn from that! Such a talented team wasted in vain! The best teacher is your last mistake!
Image credit: FIBA Eurobasket
The article was written by Gratian Cormos, a Romanian journalist, book writer, life coach and mentor currently living in Barcelona, Spain.
If you are interested in collaborating with his website brainbasketball.net, in order to publish articles, interviews or other features related to basketball, contact Gratian Cormos by Whatsapp or Telegram at this Spanish number: +34 612414486.
