In a scenario as breathtaking as it was spectacular, the French team managed to beat Japan after overtime, this Tuesday. Coming out of this success, Rudy Gobert gave his opinion on the support provided by the spectators at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium.

After its sluggish inaugural victory against Brazil, the French team absolutely had to confirm against the Japanese, this Tuesday.

And this time again, everything was done with difficulty.

In an intense match with unbearable suspense, the Blues managed to win (94-90) thanks in part to Matthew Strazel’s exceptional 4-point action to force overtime.

Rudy Gobert pours out his heart on the contribution of the French public
As usual, precious on the rebound (12 captured) and in defense (1 interception, 2 blocks), Rudy Gobert was less to his advantage in attack (7 points scored, 1/5 on free throws).

Fortunately, he was able to rely on his teammates to celebrate the victory after a crazy scenario.

A scenario that he later returned to on France TV:

Rudy Gobert: It was a close call.

We were down 4 with a few seconds left in the game and Matthew made a 3-point shot plus the foul.

We gave ourselves a big scare today, but what we have to remember is that we never stopped believing.

Each player who entered the field was able to bring their talent and despite the difficulties we encountered, we were able to get through it.

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Aware of the cold sweats that he and his teammates gave the French fans, the French pivot nevertheless considers this success as rich in lessons:

Rudy Gobert: As they say, the important thing is the victory.

But that’s not all, I think there are a lot of lessons to learn from this match.

Individually and collectively, we’re simply going to have to do better if we want to achieve our goals.

We also have to give credit to Japan, who were incredible and very skillful.

They played their game.

We knew they were very dangerous, but they were even more effective than usual. We’re going to continue to learn and progress.

A learning process that should continue this Friday, during the clash against Germany, and take place in a Pierre-Mauroy stadium that is still white-hot.

Gobzilla therefore wanted to salute the impact of the spectators gathered in the Lille stadium, precious in recent hours:

Rudy Gobert: In difficult moments, we saw that they also continued to believe.

And playing in this atmosphere doesn’t make you want to lose. That’s for sure.

The French played with fire before winning against Japan on Tuesday.

Rudy Gobert therefore gave a mixed assessment of this victory, but ended his speech on a positive note concerning the encouragement of the French fans.