France stands as the worst possible enemy for Spain in the final. eurobasket 2022 this Sunday. To the potential of the team led by Tokyo 2020 Olympic runner-up Vincent Collet, we must add the pending accounts between the two teams fueling their rivalry to make it one of the continent’s greatest classics.
More than twenty battles stand out as precedents, and in most cases Scariolo’s team has been the winner. The balance is huge: 17 wins for just four losses. Some were particularly painful, like the 2011 Eurobasket final in Lithuania, where Tony Parker’s France tried to knock champion Scariolo’s team out of the seat two years ago. And in the 2015 semi-finals of the European Championship, the French team, in Lille, in the presence of 25,000 fans in the stands, unstoppably fell to the Spanish team with 40 points in one of the best games in Pau Gasol history.
France came to the tournament as one of the sure contenders for the title and declared its status despite its erratic record in the tournament, which resulted in two losses in the first stage (against Germany and Slovenia) and beating Turkey in the round. 16 in the quarterfinals and Italy in two games where they need overtime. However, he did not give Poland a chance in the semi-finals. Rudy Gobert, who joined the Minnesota Timberwolves this summer, is a player who can make a difference with his 215 centimeters. however, New York Knicks forward Evan Fournier (14.4 points average) and Madrid power forward Guershon Yabusele (15 points average) appear to be two other important parts of the French squad. But Collet also has important secondary players like point guard Thomas Heurtel (7.1 assists per game), Real Madrid center Vincent Poirier or shooting guard Luwawu-Cabarrot who could spoil a game.