SAITAMA (FIBA World
Championship) - Reaching the quarter-finals of the FIBA World Championship has
been a very valuable experience for France's Yannick Bokolo.
The 21-year-old back up guard has seen more minutes than some may have
expected - in part because of Tony Parker's absence - and in exchange he has
shown a lot of promise.
Bokolo opened the tournament with his best performance so far, going for 10
points, two assists and two steals in a losing cause against the Olympic
champions Argentina.
Since then, his playing time has wavered as France head coach Claude Bergeaud
tried to find the best balance in his backcourt without Parker, but the future
is bright for Bokolo.
And even though France lost to Greece 73-56 today, Les Bleus will now aim to
finish fifth in the tournament.
In order to do that, they will play the loser of the day's other
quarter-final between the USA and Germany.
FIBA correspondent Simon Wilkinson caught up with Bokolo following France's
defeat to Greece.
FIBA: What are your first thoughts after this game?
Bokolo: It's very hard to swallow because we never felt we were able to play
the way we wanted to offensively. We really didn't do anything the way we
usually do.
FIBA: Is that more a case of what France wasn't able to do or what Greece
prevented you from doing?
Bokolo: No this is more on us. Both teams struggled at the start of the game
but Greece eventually were able to get out of their slump while we weren't. So
from that perspective, it's what we did wrong more than what they did right to
stop us.
FIBA: Does that mean that their defense isn't as good as everyone is making
it out to be?
Bokolo: I'm not taking anything away from them. Their defense was very good
but I look more at what we did wrong.
FIBA: You're down by 10 points at halftime against the European champions.
What do you think to yourself and as a team coming into the third quarter?
Bokolo: That anything is possible and we still have a chance to come back and
win. It's that simple. We saw that with Angola. Even though they trailed by
double digits against us, they came back and were very close in the late stages
of the game.
FIBA: So for you right now the dominating feeling is one of disappointment?
Bokolo: Yes in regards to this game it is. But the tournament is not over
yet. We have to put this loss behind us to focus on what we can still accomplish
and that's to finish fifth.
FIBA: You'll be playing Germany or the USA to earn that right, so it won't be
easy either.
Bokolo: No doubt about that. It's going to be extremely difficult and even
more so because we're playing tomorrow. Just like the European Championship last
year, the classification game is the day after the defeat to Greece.
FIBA: On a personal level, what have you made of your experience playing in
this tournament?
Bokolo: I've enjoyed it a lot. We reached the quarter finals which is a great
result for France and just getting any sort of playing time is going to be
beneficial to me and my development on the French team but also help me improve
for when I go back to my other team.