A thriller and a blowout in the semis - Spain and France to meet in Eurobasket final
By winning by 41 points, the French team made up the biggest difference in the history of the playoffs in the current format of the European Championship. In 1993, Croatia beat the Greeks by 40 points in the bronze medal match, as did the USSR team of Poland in the semi-finals in 1967.
"We came out with a lot of will and determination, that's what made the difference," said French coach Vincent Collet.
The Poles knocked out defending champions Slovenia on Wednesday with star Luka Doncic, but crashed hard against France. They scored just 18 points in the first half against the Olympic silver medallists from Tokyo, the fewest in a European Championship semi-final since 1946, when the Czechoslovak national team held the Hungarians to 12 points.
After the break, the Polish players fared a bit better, yet none of them got within 10 points against a defensive unit led by three-time NBA Best Defensive Player Rudy Gobert. Michal Michalak and A.J. Slaughter were the top scorers for the losing team with nine points each.
The scoring leader for the winners was Guerschon Yabusele, who scored 22 points. The French are in the final of the European Championship for the first time since 2013, when they won their only title so far. They also played for gold in 1949 and 2011.
"We worked hard to get to this point. When we started our preparation, the goal was to win gold and now we are one game away from it," said Gobert, who had six rebounds and three blocks in the game.
In the second semifinal, both teams took several lead changes. The Germans went into the last quarter with a six-point lead, but the Spaniards won it 31:20. On Sunday, they can win their fourth title in the last six championships. Coach Sergio Sciarrol's charges once again put on a great team performance, with Lorenzo Brown being the team's top scorer with 29 points.
The Germans will face Poland for bronze. "The tournament is not over yet. Our goal was to win a medal and we still have that opportunity," Schröder said.