France thrashed Poland 95-54 on Friday to reach the final of Eurobasket as NBA star Rudy Gobert domi-nated defensively and Guerschon Yabusele top-scored with 22 points. The Olympic silver medallists moved a step closer to their second European crown as they held the bewildered Poles to just 32 percent shooting.
Poland had created one of the shocks of the tournament by beating Luka Doncic’s Slovenia in the quarter-finals, but were swamped in Berlin. Not a single Polish player scored in double figures.
“We wanted to show that we can defend and to-night we proved that we can,” said Gobert. “If we carry on with the same spirit we can go on and win this thing.”Gobert and fellow big man Vincent Poir-ier allowed the Poles little space inside and Real Madrid’s Yabusele and NBA small forward Evan Fournier were clinical in attack for the French. In Sunday’s final, France will face either Ger-many or Spain who face off later Friday.—APP
