FRA – Rock-solid Pietrus has important year with France, Valencia

VALENCIA (2010 FIBA World Championship) - France drew the short straw and faced eventual champions and heavy favorites Spain in the Quarter-Finals of EuroBasket 2009, a confrontation Vincent Collet’s team lost 86-66 to fall out of medal contention.

With just that one defeat on their record in Poland, however, and the expected addition of players like Joakim Noah and Rodrigue Beaubois to the line-up, most people believe the French will be a force at the FIBA World Championship in Turkey and the years to come.

One of most important players for the France side in recent years has been the athletic and tenacious forward Florent Pietrus.

The high-flying 29-year-old has been a valuable man for Neven Spahija’s Power Electronics Valencia this season, helping the club reach the EuroCup Finals.

Pietrus spoke to FIBA.com.

FIBA: Florent, if you erase that one defeat to Spain last year in Poland, France would have gone undefeated. So even though the team did not win a medal at the EuroBasket, expectations must be high going into the FIBA World Championship later this year in Turkey. Are those justified?

Florent Pietrus: Most of the teams are going to be waiting for us. We have to respond. We have a team with great players, but in the end, we have to compete together. We know that the public believe Spain and the USA will be favorites, but we’re going to try and do things our way, play our basketball. You never know. Maybe we’re going to have a great Championship.

FIBA: France won the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney but didn’t qualify to play at the Athens Games four years later, or at the Beijing Games in 2008. Is that in the back of your mind as France travel to Turkey to face Spain, Lithuania, Canada, Lebanon and New Zealand in the Preliminary Round?

Florent Pietrus: The most important thing is for next year (2011) because this will be the European qualification for the Olympics. This summer is going to be like practice for us, but we’re going to be going for it (wins) in every game.

FIBA: Watching your Power Electronics Valencia team compete this year in Spain has been an inspiration. Why has this team been able to surpass expectations?

Florent Pietrus: We are a team. We are together in the good moments and the bad moments and that situation helps us grow up faster. We are together no matter what happens. Everyone supports each other.

FIBA: That would have been especially true in the EuroCup qualifying round victory over Dexia Mons-Hainaut, when you came back from a 15-point first-leg deficit in Belgium and won the second leg 79-61?

Florent Pietrus: Some teams cannot handle such a situation, but we did against Dexia. We had to play a great game to get into the ULEB (EuroCup).

FIBA: There was also that dramatic game against Barcelona, when Rafa Martinez hit a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer on January 23.

Florent Pietrus: And Barcelona hadn’t lost any games and we beat them so it’s been good for us. But we have to keep going. We haven’t won anything yet.

FIBA: What would it mean for this the players in this team, and the city of Valencia, to win the EuroCup? You play Panellinios on April 17 in one Semi-Final and if you win that, you would take on the winner of Bizkaia Bilbao Basket’s clash with Alba Berlin for the title.

Florent Pietrus: It’s a dream. We’ve worked all year for this moment. It’s only two games for this title but we have to be ready for this big moment. It will be a big fight.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA