Thursday, August 13th, 2009...11:48 am
France-Italy Game II
Tomorrow’s game between France and Italy is crucial for both teams.
France, and Spurs Tony Parker, Ian Mahinmi and Nando De Colo, will qualify for play in September with the victory.
The Italians have a strong team, but Les Bleus played them a little more than a week ago and and secured a victory in overtime despite the absence of Tony Parker. Parker was in San Antonio rehabbing an ankle injury.
Big picture questions for France include the health of Parker and teammate Nicolas Batum, who is nursing a shoulder injury. According to reports, both are expected to play. Meanwhile, Italy has injury problems of its own.
Parker’s ankle is reportedly fine, but his conditioning is questionable. He’s played sparingly because of injury, and is still not in peak physical condition. Batum’s play has shown moments of brilliance. Big games from Parker and Batum will go a long way in securing a French victory.
The most exciting part about the French team-apart from Batum-is young point guard Antoine Diot. At 20 years old, he’s shown incredible poise, especially in the team’s tight fight against Italy. Normally I watch international games with eyes toward Spurs properties. In this case, I’d watch just for Diot.
But there are Spurs, or future Spurs, involved. Parker is obvious. Recent draft pick Nando De Colo is a flashy guard, with great court vision. He had at least two passes against Finland that made me thankful for instant replay. In time, he could become a solid pick and roll player.
Unfortunately for Spurs fans, Ian Mahinmi will be inactive for the game. This is disappointing. Hopefully, France advances and Mahinmi practices himself into game minutes.
Tomorrow’s game is in Pau. We’ll update this post if a stream is made available. For a more thorough preview, check out this post from The Painted Area.
EuroBasket proper starts on September 7.
Edit: As you’ll see in the comments, Les Bleus does not automatically earn an invitation to the EuroBasket tourney simply by beating Italy. No, no. They’d still need to overcome an aspiring qualifier from Group A, probably Bosnia. The opening paragraph of this piece is mistaken.
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10 Comments
August 13th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
They won’t actually qualify for play in September with the victory. They’ll have to beat a team from the other group (probably Bosnia & Herzegovina) in a playoff to qualify for Eurobasket.
But, yes, it’s a huge game. France are favorites, but Italy have a few players that can get hot from outside, which makes them dangerous. Parker will probably have to play big minutes in this one.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Nando, has been playing good basketball far France
Its a little disappointing that Ian wil not play
And yes TP might need to play heavy minutes in this one… hopefuly they win again…
August 13th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Thanks, Eric.
Corrected.
August 13th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
“Not sure of Tony Parker’s stamina or overall health status. Parker only played sparingly vs. Finland, but I imagine that was a strategic move. Assume he will play a bigger role vs. the Italians. Though, Team France has been fortunate that their young guards, Antoine Diot & Nando De Colo, have played with such poise.
The status of Nic Batum is questionable, as well, because of a bum shoulder. Nic was a huge factor in the 2nd half of the Aug. 5 meeting.”
Got this piece from a link Eurobasket Qualifying Update
August 14th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Here’s a link to watch online, if anyone’s interested:
http://www.freedocast.com/keeper
August 14th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
At least 3 more games to play - we might see more of Ian against Finland since this game has very low stakes.
As for the people who said France wouldn’t be going anywhere anyway… not to sure about that. Before it was Parker, a few NBA rookies and some old guys playing in Europe. Now we saw a good core of NBA players (Batum, Diaw, Turiaf - all guys with quite a lot of experience now) and some hungry young players like De Colo, Diot and so on. Florent Pietrus is also playing very well (and might go to the NBA some day like the others). If they manage to reach the Euro anything is possible - and it’s a clear a good result would be a serious boost to Parker’s confidence (or to put it in another way, a major chip off his shoulder).
August 14th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I forgot to say Parker said before the game that he was out of condition and would be playing 15 minutes or so… and ended up playing 30 minutes (23 points, 4 assists). I hope it won’t have any bad consequences, be it for his ankle or for the relationship between the Spurs and the French NT.
August 15th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Parker said that he lied intentionally to the media in order to hide France’s game plan.
Regarding the previous versions of the NT and “old guys playing in Europe”, one has to remember that the team generally had very few good veterans until 2005. In fact, most of the guys that won the silver medal at Sidney in 2000, were still in their prime but had since been boycotting the NT because of unpaid bonuses due by the French Basketball Federation.
It’s only after the 2003 Olympic qualification failure (where Parker basically called out Moïso and Abdul-Wahad for quitting on the team), that some good european league veterans decided to come back. Thus the 2005 team added former Maverick and Euroleague star PG Antoine Rigaudeau and C Frederic Weis to the core of then 23 year-old Parker, Pietrus, Diaw and Turiaf and achieved a bronze medal at Eurobasket.
August 15th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Impitoyable,
Thanks. That’s fascinating. And expected.
Thanks to all our French readers. You’re invaluable contributors to this site, especially now that the Spurs have Parker, Mahinmi and SpurNando. Every time I see a .fr I’m happy.
How I wish Nicolas Batum was on the list…oh well.
August 16th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Impitoyable, I was talking more about recent history and the failure to qualify to the Euro in due course. Things are definitely looking up for the French NT.
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