Recap: Australia 100, France 98: Crowd-sourced P&T Slack recap

France played again today! Unfortunately, the Flying Frank Ntilkinas didn’t pull out a victory, dropping their first game of this FIBA World Cup to the now-5-0 Australia Boomers.

Frank actually had a really good start to the game, pouring in seven points in the early stages of the game, and not a single one from spot-up threes, which have kinda been his bread and butter so far in this tournament. Unfortunately, those seven points would end up being the only points for our favorite Frenchman, but they were impressive nonetheless.

Frank’s first bucket came off of a steal, where he drove into traffic in transition and used his length to finish over the much smaller Patty Mills for an and-one. Later in the first quarter, Frank finished back-to-back possessions with makes — first, a nice floater in the lane, and second, a quick little pull-up from the free throw line off of a pick. All good stuff from Frank, but again, his scoring started and ended in the first quarter of this one.

That said, he did have a nice game overall! Moved the ball well and honestly only took one shot that made me scratch my head — a weird, turnaround fadeaway from the free throw line that reminded me of something Frank might do on one of those nights where Fizdale was clearly pushing him to be super aggressive on the Knicks.

The game itself was a torrid affair, with France and the Aussies trading blows back and forth until the end. The last few minutes were electric, with France and Australia scoring back-and-forth, including big performances from Australia’s Patty Mills (30 points), Joe Ingles (23) and Aron Baynes (21) and France’s Evan Fournier (31) and Nando de Colo (26).

France’s loss puts their record at 4-1 for the tournament, and earned them a date with Team USA this Wednesday morning. Australia will take on the Czech Republic on the other side of the bracket.

For a nice video breakdown of today’s action (and Frank’s play), check out this video from friends of the site NYK Terry & Tray:

And just for fun, here’s a little look at how the sausage is made in the P&T Slack channel... some of our live, unfiltered (and unedited, DRAG EVERYONE’S GRAMMAR BUT MINE) reactions and thoughts to the game as it happened (well, mostly AFTER it happened, but whatever):

Shwinnypooh 8:17 AM

Frank with 7 points in the first

Bootum 9:12 AM

None off threes too p impressive

Joe Flynn 9:26 AM

fuck Australia

Gobert sucks

Alex Wolfe 9:50 AM

Frank woulda locked Delly up there

V disappointed that Bogut’s Pizzagate ass advanced and Frank didn’t (Note: Clearly I had no idea how this FIBA tourney works)

prez 10:01 AM

france usually the smart team but they played terrible in the 4th despite de colo and fournier carrying em on offense

aussie had the right strategy vs the french bigs

make them come out to the 3pt , make them make decisions on the perimeter

Shwinnypooh 10:02 AM

Collet coached like an idiot down the stretch

prez 10:02 AM

didnt help that gobert and poirer played like idiots

and fournier missed 2 layups

Shwinnypooh 10:02 AM

I know Albicy had a decent game but maybe play your best perimeter defender at some point when you can’t contain penetration at all

prez 10:02 AM

nahhh frank was playing horrible on offense in the 2nd half man

Shwinnypooh 10:03 AM

Last I checked he can play alongside another guard

prez 10:03 AM

sure but they needed buckets as much as they needed defense

Shwinnypooh 10:03 AM

They had no problem getting buckets

Batum didn’t need to come in

NDC and Fournier were cooking

prez 10:03 AM

yeah i was puzzled by that substitution

so random

timing wise

Shwinnypooh 10:04 AM

It didn’t add anything to the team

prez 10:04 AM

ndaye or frank woulda been better fits for sure than adding batum

Shwinnypooh 10:04 AM

Gobert was buns today too

prez 10:04 AM

he was insanely buns in the 2nd half

on both ends

like collet coulda made some better subs but to me gobert’s fuckery was the #1 factor by far here

lol

he was atrocious down the stretch

he just has no interest in adjusting his game if guys pull him out

and is still a klutz with the ball in his hands

he even lost track of his man once!!! with like 2 min left!

Alex Wolfe 10:11 AM

So what you’re saying is Mitch is 20x better than Gobert

Shwinnypooh 10:11 AM

He also made no attempt to run Baynes off the line

Alex Wolfe 10:11 AM

And should make the All-Star team over Gobert and make him cry again

Shwinnypooh 10:11 AM

Correct

prez 10:17 AM

so heres a question for yall about frank and france and offense. the perpetual frank chicken and egg question

out of the 3 players who bring the ball up the court at the g spot (not incluidng fournier), frank is the only one who generally doesn’t improvise . he either brings it up and passes it off to a curling wing, or to gobert if the curling wing is fronted, then cuts. if none of that works, he might on rare occassion run a secondary pnr, and either drive off it to kick, or even more rare, put up a shot. but most of his intiating possessions fit that decision tree

is that by design, and the coach doesnt let him improvise? or does the coach let them do what they feel is right (de colo and albicy seem to veer off that game plan more) and frank happens to just always work through that decision tree without deviating cuz thats how he rolls

in earlier games they would do more “first action” pnr with him and rudy, they havent done any vs LTU and AUS

still not a ton, but more than these last 2 games

even in those pnr actions, its not much improvising

i ask because im beginning to think in general on offense pre deciding stuff is his biggest issue more than any lack of a skill (outside maybe touch around the rim).

Drew 10:27 AM

From what I understand about international basketball, the coach has more power and they run a script on offense. Deviation from the offense leads to the coach benching the player. Plus, younger guys just don’t get the benefit of the doubt. Frank grew up in that system and it’s not the easiest thing to just become selfish if you want to play.

I could be wrong though. I’m not international expert. This is based off of what guys like David Blatt say about the difference between the NBA and Euroleague

prez 10:38 AM

@Doug but it doesnt lead to benching in france’s team

that’s my point. haha. NDC and Albicy and fournier and batum all improvise and adapt alot more

every ballhandler but frank

and its not necc abotu being selfish either -- one example is seeing a miscue and deciding to change your plan because of it

stingy diva to the max 10:39 AM

Frank just seems like he defers to older guys. I dont think its because he is not allowed to improvise.

prez 10:39 AM

de colo did that a ton

Drew 10:40 AM

I don’t watch these games nor do I know anything about the coach. Maybe he just wants to run plays

prez 10:40 AM

i think thats why we never see frank get easy layups

ever

its always off hand, wrong foot, whatever tough moves

Joe Flynn 10:40 AM

Oh shit! France vs. USA Wednesday

prez 10:41 AM

most easy layups come because someone fucked up on defense

stingy diva to the max 10:42 AM

I’ll be on it again for wednesday @chinajoe

prez 10:43 AM

what time the game weds

stingy diva to the max 10:43 AM

Yea frank isn’t an especially person ntuitive cutter either which hursts once he’s given up the ball

Prob 8

Joe Flynn 10:44 AM

7AM

stingy diva to the max 10:44 AM

Ooooh. Even betta

prez 10:44 AM

yikes

good thing im working from home that day

Shwinnypooh 10:45 AM

I think Frank may have a shorter leash than the other guys cuz he’s young and it’s his first international tournament

But in general I agree that improvising is his biggest problem

Bootum 10:45 AM

Frank gonna beat the US on 9/11. Wow

prez 10:45 AM

yeah i think collet’s mindset for frank is “you can start, but you also dont have the freedom that the OGs have”

but like...you just KNOW when he puts his head down

IM GONNA DUNK THIS

IM GONNA SHOOT THIS

or when hes driving and hes like IM GONNA PRETEND TO SHOOT BUT IM LOOKING TO PASS

lol

de colo gets so many easy buckets today by just taking what AUS gave him

Shwinnypooh 10:47 AM

De Colo is good but I actually can’t stand how he plays

Joe Flynn 10:47 AM

@Bootum AHAHAHA

stingy diva to the max 10:49 AM

I think collet takes big pride in frank but also their history might make it easier for him to be harder on frank

Because gobert was horrific today and de colo has had awful games and fournier too has had stretches of looking foolish

But frank doesn’t get that gravity

But collet coached 16-year old frank. So it must feel different

Drew 10:59 AM

The simple answer is probably that Frank just wants to get guys into actions and whatnot, doesn’t want to deviate from the core offense, and defers. It’s been an issue in the NBA too. How many times have we been like “just call a damn high screen and roll to mix things up.”

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That’s all for today, guys! France vs. USA on Wednesday. AKA Frank Ntilikina vs. a bunch of Celtics. Get ready for conflicting emotions of Knicks fandom vs. American pride!