Poland – France. EuroBasket semi-finals predictions and announcement

The Poland-France meeting will be held in Berlin on Friday, September 16. The fight starts at 18:15 Kyiv time. The match will be broadcast live on Xsport TV channel.

It’s time for decisive matches in EuroBasket. First in the semi-finals and then in the medal matches, the top four teams of the tournament will determine the winners of the awards. The composition of this quartet turned out quite unexpectedly, suffice it to say that none of the main favorites of the European Championship (Slovenia, Greece, Serbia) got into it. And the game between the sensational Poles and the French, who always claim high places, will kick off the semi-final match.

Poland

Our geographical neighbors have certainly become the main discovery of the continental championship. The Poles have completed their minimum duties in the tournament when they left the group. After defeating the Ukrainian team in the 1/8 final of EuroBasket 2022, it was clearly very successful for Poland and the bodyguards of Igor Milicic, who broke Slovenia’s resistance in the quarterfinals, rose to a great level for themselves.

To say that the white-reds were oppressed in the Balkans match would be to say nothing. Almost all experts and basketball fans confidently predicted the completion of the tournament path for the Poles, only the point difference raised questions. But Mateusz Ponitka and his team put all skeptics to shame and caused a real sensation.

While the Slovenes entered the match very confidently and quickly let go of the game, Poland took advantage of this gift and managed to escape the big time-out by almost twenty points. In the second half, the Slovenes closed the gap, but the Poles showed their ability to strike a hit and again left on the score. At the end of the match, the white-reds were better and, unexpectedly, but fully deserved, went further in the tournament group.

The lion’s share in the success of the Poles belongs to two leaders – Mateusz Ponitka and AJ Slaughter. In particular, I would like to distinguish the captain of the “squads”. Mateusz shone by working both halves of the pitch in the Slovenia game. Statistically, his contribution has resulted in such a rare triple-double for continental championships (26 points + 16 rebounds + 10 assists), which is only fourth in EuroBasket history. His average points in the tournament are no less good – 15 points + 6.4 rebounds + 6.9 assists.

The naturalized American Slaughter also tormented the Slovenian defense quite badly, landing several key hits in the fourth quarter of the game. He finished the quarterfinals with 16 points + 6 rebounds + 4 assists. His average stats at the current EuroBasket are 14.3 points + 2.4 rebounds + 3.1 assists.

Much, if not all, will depend on the successful play of these two in a duel with the French for the Poles. But no matter how the semi-final ends, Igor Milicic’s team will still be welcomed home as national heroes.

France

In itself, the presence of the French among the semi-finalists of the European Championship is not surprising. The Tricolors are always among the main contenders for the awards, and getting into the strongest quartet is perhaps the minimum schedule for them.

However, it is worth looking at the tournament path of Vincent Collet’s wards, and the French can already be safely called the main winners of the tournament. The fact is that they clearly “rebounded” from defeats in regular time twice in playoff games. This happened in the fights with Turkey (in the 1/8 finals) and Italy (in the quarterfinals).

After the unsportsmanlike foul of the French, Chedi Osman failed to take both free throws and after that Turkey managed to lose the ball on offense. close the meeting. Also, Rudy Gobert saved the game for his team and evened the score – 77:77 and in overtime the French put pressure on a demoralized opponent.

The Italy match was also incredible. With 16 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the score was – 75:77 (number magic, don’t find it) in favor of Italy. Simone Fontecchio was shooting free throws and could have taken her national team to the semi-finals but blurred her shots. The French evened the score on their last offense – 77:77 and then again a winning overtime.

fiba.basketball. Rudy Gobert, leader of the French team

The best of the “tricolor” tournament, predictably, is NBA Rudy Gobert’s stellar tall man, who averaged double-double (14.7 points + 10.9 rebounds). But also noteworthy is the solid contribution of defender Evan Fournier (15 points + 3 assists) and another great Gershon Yabusele (13.8 points + 4 accumulated rebounds).

***

The clear favorites of the next match will be the French. They have all the leverage (individual class, deeper roster, team and individual player experience, etc.) to confidently beat the Poles and advance. However, all this could have been said before the match between Poland and Slovenia, so it is definitely not worth attributing a defeat to the white-reds for the second time in a row. Yet we dare to assume that Rudy Gobert and company will make it to the finals on Sunday.

Sport.ua forecast: French team won

4.20 fifteen 1.27 make a bet zrobbit betting

4.19 fifteen 1.26 make a bet zrobbit betting