Franc was France's best player largely by default as no one else had a good game. France couldn't make any 3's. Fournier, DeColo, Batum & Franc all went 1-5 or 1-6 on 3's -- combined 4-22. The other PG, shrimpy Albicy was another 1-5. France was also just 13-25 on FT's.
Argentina tried hard to stay on Fournier and DeColo, somehow managing to guard outside and stop Gobert inside. It was a very scrappy, disjointed, foulathon type game. And neither team really had any rhythm.
Argentina didn't worry much about Franc who opportunistically took advantage with some drives and J's. You can see that on the very first French basket, where both defenders drop back on the Gobert screen and Franc takes and makes a wide open long J. Unfortunately he was somewhat indecisive -- not planning to shoot -- so came in a little and took a 21 footer just inside the line.
Franc again looked good on D, very aware, switching, shadowing his man, negotiating screens. On O, he was cautious but marginally more aggressive than usual. Still just 1-5 on 3's. And his passes are still remedial and dangerous. On those rare Franc drives, he tends to go in and stop when a help defender comes over, then his passes out are terrible. He had 2 TO's like that, another where it looked like another weak turnover, but a foul was called on his defender for hitting his passing hand. Franc had another weak telegraphed pass nearly picked off. And that was just where he picked up his dribble 28 feet out -- a Franc specialty -- and tried to pass to a Frenchie near the sideline 23' feet away. The kind of pass that never should be stolen -- the Argentinian stepped out as he caught it.
So a good game from Franc. One diagonal drive he laid it in over a bigger guy. Another he drove in for a lefty layup against a shrimpy Argie PG.
But there was still the issue of picking up his dribble a mile out. Weak passes that were easy to read ... especially passing back out. And he couldn't make 3's.
There's a languid smoothness to Franc's drives, without explosiveness. But it was good to see him use his height on one drive and to shoot over a small PG another time.
I'm not too down on Franc. But he's got a lot to work on. Must improve those passes. Make them crisper, quicker, and not so deliberate. Sometimes he seems to put a hitch on his passes, seemingly trying to make sure they're safe, but conversely making them weaker and more obvious, slower and more easily stolen. It'll be an improvement if Franc mixes in opportunistic drives and J's like he did this game when the defense is focused elsewhere. Of course if he could make 3's that would be great, but he's a long way away from that ..
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