FRA - Weis: "We’ve shown we can play well in the face of adversity”

SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) - Frederic Weis may have not played a huge part in France's 75-73 win over Germany in yesterday's classification game, but it is an understatement to say that he has been instrumental in helping the team get this far in the tournament.

In the group stages, Les Bleus' intimidating center provided a bit more than just his usual defensive presence, giving some inside scoring punch in the early stages of games against Serbia & Montenegro, Lebanon and Venezuela - all wins for Claude Bergeaud's men.

And even though his offensive forays may have been limited to those contests – he scored 10 points or more in each of those games but has not reached double digits since - Weis' role as France's defensive anchor is a mainstay which has helped them see off Angola before they stumbled against European champions Greece.

However Les Bleus bounced back from that loss and following their win over Germany, will now get a chance to play for fifth place against Turkey tomorrow.

FIBA correspondent Simon Wilkinson talked to Weis after France's defeat of Dirk Nowitzki and company.

FIBA: The strategy in this game was very different from the way you've played this far, but it worked well.

Weis: We didn't play as we usually do in the sense that guys who haven't had much playing time up until now were given an opportunity and they ceased it. It was all in the context of what was better for the team and trying to counter Germany. They had four small players out on the court with Nowitzki so it was hard for us to play big guys like Johan Petro and myself. But Ronny Turiaf and Joseph Gomis had big games, something that isn't always evident to do when you’ve played limited minutes like they have. So I'm very happy that the team reacted well and it's really fair to say that the whole team contributed to this win.

FIBA: So the goal now is to win that fifth place?

Weis: Yes of course. We'll be going up against a very hungry Turkey team so it's not going to be an easy game but we've shown that we can play well in the face of adversity and we just have to keep that up.

FIBA: What do you see as the key to that game?

Weis: The teams who play these classification games are all still dealing with the fact of not having gone through to the last four so it really comes down to who's the least disappointed and who has the most desire to win. That team will prevail.

FIBA: Looking back at the game against Greece, are there any regrets?

Weis: No, no regrets or remorse. That's how life goes sometimes. They were better than we were. We can't go back in time and change things. But we've responded well in this game. The important thing going up against Germany was to avoid making the same mistakes as we did against Greece. And we made sure of that.

FIBA: Considering the quality of the four teams in the semi-finals, if France finishes fifth, is that a result that fits?

Weis: Honestly I feel we could have been in the last four but it didn't happen. Aiming for a fifth place is a good result when you look at the teams we had to go up against. Finishing fifth in the FIBA World Championship would be quite an accomplishment.

FIBA: What do you think is missing for France to be among those top four teams?

Weis: I would say it's all down to experience. If you look at Greece, they're not a more talented team than we are but they have experience of playing together in big competitions. We don't have that yet, but it's normal when you look at all the young players on our roster. So we just have to get more experience together. But as far as talent I don't see too much of a difference.

FIBA: Aymeric Jeanneau didn't play against Germany. Was he injured?

Weis: Yes he's injured. He broke his nose against Greece and hasn't been able to try playing with a mask in training yet. So it would have been dangerous to go into the game without having tried it before. And he's still got his right thigh injury that is troubling him. We may have to carry him back to France in pieces!

FIBA: It was good to see that Gomis and Yannick Bokolo filled in nicely for him.

Weis: Yes they did a great job on the perimeter but as I said before Ronny (Turiaf) also did a great job down low and it just goes to show how important those players are to our success.

FIBA: When Boris Diaw misses two free-throws and Germany grabs the rebound with about 10 seconds left to play, what's the first thought? Is it to try and deny Nowitzki or just cover the ball handler?

Weis: You just have faith in the team's defense and we were right to because we ended up stealing the ball and scoring the winning basket.

FIBA: What does France’s future look like? Say looking ahead to next year's EuroBasket?

Weis: We'll have a good team in Spain for the European Championship. The team will be very ambitious because we'll have had another year of playing together. So we will expect big things.

By Simon Wilkinson
FIBA