Translated from this post

"The Greeks wanted to avoid Spain, it looked like a scrimmage"

We wanted to win this match against Greece, of course, but we wanted to work for it. We wanted to win and not to make calculations to know who we'd be playing in quarter finals. And if we can end with a 9-0 record... But the objective was also to work hard. Vincent [Collet, coach] didn't explicitely say he would let the rotation play, but he was thinking very hard about it.

Overall, it was a very strange game. In the first half, it played about normal even tough we weren't feeling the Greeks much in the game, and in the second half we were a bit out of focus because we didn't know how to react seeing how they were playing. We knew there wasn't too much at stake and they weren't all out so we relaxed, I think. So it didn't look like a beautiful game despite some good plays.

So we just had to play a minimum, we didn't have to force ourselves to beat them. We've played, but they weren't resisting too much. To be honest I had never done a game like this one, it's the wierdest game I've played. We asked ouselves questions on their behavior, regading the quarter finals, and then we thought "we don't care, let's work them hard, we'll beat them and then we'll see" I don't like stuffs like "Let's lose on purpose." If we want to win in the end we'll have to beat Spain too so... We thought to ourselves to try to win the game, and if we get the strongest opponent our objective is to be 9-0.

And Vincent rotated well in this game. Alain [Koffi] made a hell of a game. Ali [Traoré] is progressing more and more, Antoine [Diot] did a good game, Yannick [Bokolo] it's the 2nd game in a row he confirms and Nando [De Colo], well thanks. Thanks and good bye ! He came, he did his thing and bye bye. Bang. But Alain did a great game. Until now he was collective. He wasn't really frustrated, well maybe a bit, but he was fine. But here I've found my Alain back, like Vincent said. Well he's not mine, because he remains and Ivorian :) He and I often mock each other about Ivory Coast and Cameroon. Of course it's because of the soccer rivalry. So we've been needling each other for two or three years... But I'm happy of his game, especially because he can bring a lot.

The opposing team really looked like they weren't playing. Spanoulis, there were moments where he wasn't playing at all. Bourousis was playing once every three plays. It wasn't fun. Spanoulis may have scored 16 points, but he played without forcing himself : he got his moment when he put two or three, but he didn't go all out. I think they will step up in quarter finals. But here their objective was to avoid Spain by finishing 3rd.
In the end we weren't particularly exulting because, to be honest, it looked like a scrimmage. So it felt wierd. In the locker room we haven't really talked about it, we're trying to focus on the next step right now.

At the end of the game I went and gave a friendly slap to Spanoulis because of his half court shot in the end of the 3rd. He was in the middle, well in the corner of the half court. I was facing him, there were 3 seconds remaining. It's fine, he'll never have time. And he throws the ball, bang ! I looked at him, he had a great smile, eyes wide open in astonishment and with his hands he did Jordan's sign in 92 against the Blazers, like "It's not my fault". He told me "It's the 1st time it happens to me", I told him "I hope you don't do that every game."

There's Schortsanitis too. Apparently he's lost 100 pounds... he only weights 330 now… Ali has done a great job on him anyway, he massaged his ribs. Well he ended on the ground once, but on this one anyone would have ended on the ground. Except maybe Shaquille O’Neal or Dwight Howard. I'm not even sure. Well Shaq, I think he could take it, but Dwight would have lost his balance a bit, I admit he is... it's crazy how hefty he is.

Tomorrow I'll try to follow games, but for the quarter finals to be honest I don't know who I'd want to play against. Actually there's only one team I've never wanted to play since the beginning, the Turks. It's cool since we won't play them in quarter finals but it's the team I least want to play against. I really don't want to play Turkoglu. Now he may not be doing anything but you never know, and I don't want him to be on fire against me. He's not all out yet and I don't want him to start his garbage on me :) Well for next game I'm sure he won't be for me. Anyway I've said it in a previous post, we're going to play against Spain, unless there's a miracle but there are 75% chances we play against them.

I didn't write a post yesterday, but it was a very quiet day (monday). Nothing happened. We slept in in the morning, we ate at noon, we had a press conference following that, then nap, workout, dinner, sleep. Period. Nothing happened, I try to find something to tell about monday, but it was dead calm, sod all. Oh fu... yes ! Federer has lost ! I've watched the first 3 sets and learned when waking up that Federer had lost. Well, Del Potro is stong, he's good anyways. But I was dusgusted, he fucked up.

Today (tuesday), there was no sleep in… Out for practice at 9:45, workout at 10, then video, lunch, nap, snack and we went to the game. I have to mention today the staff sang right and in rythm the Marseillaise. They've read the blog and they rehearsed. They applied themselves, it was so funny, I had to look at my feet or I was going to roll on the floor. They really applyed themselves and then they came to me and asked "Was it fine or not ?"

Tomorrow (Wednesday), we're leaving at 7:15, but I'm not complaining. The others are playing tomorrow and have to be transfered the day after and then connect with the game. We've done a great job finishing in the top 2.

Tonight no US Open, still no Secret Story [Big Brother], we're going to sleep. It's fine, we're more and more focused. We're boiling-hot. We've played preseason with the qualifications, we've played the regular season with the first 2 rounds and now the playoffs are starting !

Translated from this post

" We don't want to stop here "

Today (Sunday) we had video on Croatia at noon. I woke up at ten to noon. I've slept for a long time. But it's ok, it was happening at the hotel, I was on time. We have seen that the Croats had a strange game : they have real players but they don't really play collective anyway. So it's the kind of team you can't predict. You never know with them. Especially since they're struggling for the qualification.

So for us the objectives were as usual, we have to impose our game right away. There are so many good players in this team I can't tell we targetted someone in particular. And even though they don't really play collective, they've started the game well. They attacked well the inside, Ronny [Turiaf] took some fouls and we were forced to play small then. That's why we've struggled inside. 48 points against us at half time, it sucks a bit, especially since we were averaging 59 points against us per game.

But unlike the previous games, we've managed to survive thanks to our attack. We're starting to have a nice address and gain confidence in our shooting. We're better than in first round. It's a lot of things. The arena is better, the pressure is rising. We're feeling there's more at stake so the preparation, confidence and a lot of aspects are different from the first round. We're more precise and the ball is moving better, Bobo [Diaw] scores 3 pointers, Tony [Parker] is more and more implicated, Flo [Pietrus] is fine, Nando [De Colo] does great things, Ali [Traoré] does his job, everybody has stepped up. Starting with Tony. He made two, three, very classy plays. His penetration where he goes through 2 players, draws the contact of a big guy, reverse and finishes on someone I don't remember, it's great classy.

However in the 3rd quarter we've stepped up our defense. We were " Now, it's enough ". We've completely stopped them, even though Popovic scored his points. In a pinch that's fine : go and score your points as long as the others don't score, we don't care. He scored his 30 pts but the others didn't score.

And even when they switched to zone, we broke it right away. First play Boris puts a 3 pointer. Next play he passes to Flo who gives it to Ali who gets 2 free throws. We attacked well the zone right away. They haven't kept the zone for long. We were fine in attack. And even when they came back down by 4 points, we didn't panic, we were united. The elders yelled at us, they were still there. When I turn those 2 crappy balls over, I got yelled at. Anyway, I can't say anything, I can't be pissed at them it would be useless, I've made 2 mistakes, I have to take it on. Flo took the initiative in making me understand I had to get the focus back :) Same with Tony. Especially in tough moments, I lost 2 beginners balls... Except from these 2 balls, I tried to be agressive and draw fouls.

In the opposite team, Popovic did a great game. But we put Yannick [Bokolo] on him and what a job he did !!! The guy still scored 1 or 2 shots in the end but Yannick pissed him so much. He did one hell of a 4th quarter, and he even put a 3 pointers that relieved us with 3 minutes remaining, after limiting Popovic. It shows everybody's ready in this team, and even people that don't play a lot are ready to bring in. It's very good for us.

And then in the locker room the atmosphere was good, but we can't stop now. Tony said to me : "I don't manage to be happy. Two years ago it was the same, we were in quarter finals too." He'll only be happy once we win the quarter finals. Same for everyone. So it's fine, we're happy but for us it's not enough. We haven't won anything we're only in quarter finals.

Anyway, the afternoon before the game was quiet. Workout, lunch, nap, snack and pre-game preparations. Nothing special happened, it was quiet. We talked quickly about blogs with Ali. He was tickled, I don't know what he's going to talk about in his next blog but well. I think he'll rather mock Boris Vladic, who's in the staff and who's Croat. He has already mentionned him.

After the game, as always, they played the song they were playing in Pau at the end of games. Everytime we win, the song is in the bus. And everytime we do that, there's Fabrice Canet, Public Relations, who takes the mike and sings. And it pisses Ronny off who yells to stop. Actually everytime we won in Pau, we had this music so we've kept the traditions, it's funny. Everyone is completely into it, docs, staff, players.

And it sounds better than when the staff is singing La Marseillaise. Actually the staff can't sing the Marseillaise, it cracks me up. Since it's not too crowded, there's not much noise in the arena and we, players we sing normal, but the staff really sings loud, and you can only hear them. And they can't sing ! And they're so off rythm, so not singing together. They suck ! It's not one in particular actually, it's the global thing, there's no harmony, they're ahead of the music, it's terrible. At the end of the song I was almost rolling on floor laughing. They have to rehearse. We're practicing for games, so they should practice for the Marseillaise, I can't believe it. But they love France, it's coming from a good place.

Anyway, with Antoine [Diot] we always watch the US Open at night before to sleep. And to be honest Federer is tough ! Nadal has fucked up : he's cut his hair, he's not wearing Capri pants anymore, he puts small shorts on, he wears polos. It's lame, Nadal equals to Capri pants, tank top, long hair and hair band ! He's not scary anymore, I'm not afraid of watching him play anymore. With Antoine, we completely root for Federer but Nadal needs to become Nadal again, he's but a shadow of his former self, it's not funny anymore. He's got shorts and a polo. He needs to show his arms again !

So here we are, we end our evenings with the US Open. I don't know how we'll handle it when it's over. In addition we don't recieve Secret Story [Big Brother] ! We're struggling. We don't manage to watch it on the Internet. I believe in this country you can't watch it on tf1.fr [french tv channel's site], we've been screwed for one week, while we where really loving it. We had TF1 in our rooms during the first round, we were chill, we could watch it every evenings. I hope we'll have it when we move out for the quarter finals...

Translated from this post

"With our luck, we'll have to play against Spain"

Yesterday we had a video session in the morning, because I must admit we didn't know too much the team of Macedonia. We saw they're a team of shooters, playing with the euphoria and that need confidence. The goal for us was: certainly not let them gain confidence. It was super important because we were on a mission to qualify for quarter finals. If we lost this game, it could be tough for us. Then we'd have played with pressure against big teams. So we were focused from the beginning not to get in shit.

We put a big run right from the start, 17-3 or something like that, thanks to our defense and a lot of address. Finally address ! Maybe it was because we've changed arena, I don't know. Anyways we certainly feel better in this arena than in the hangar of Gdansk. I don't know if you could see it on TV but the arena was better welcoming. While the other one was a little scary, it was a little dark and... strange. For the routine, It was different.

Early in the game, Florent [Pietrus] and I bumped well into them. It's a good thing we were given back confidence offensively because Flo and I didn't do a good last game in attack. Personally, it felt good to start with a big hammer. I had only put a weird stuff against Germany, some sort of odd tap, a bit lame, but except for this one I had not put any in 3 games and I was missing the rim a bit. But here a dunk in a set play like this, early in the game, it gives confidence. In addition we scored 3 other alley-oops in the first quarter. Well, I think they've left a lot of energy in the first round so their defense gave us some room. Because against Croats, against the Greeks and the Israelis they really went all out.

But we also properly applied the instructions : basically bumping into them, especially not letting them be on fire and run to widen the gap. We were up by 15 in the 1st quarter and then they gave up. And the rotation came in. I think Ali [Traoré] had the most minutes with 25 min, Tony [Parker] barely played 20 minutes. Anyways Tony, Boris [Diaw], Ronny [Turiaf] didn't have to force themselves. Personally, it felt good: a day off, a game that restored confidence and where the rotation could play, and then another day off.

It's good conditions for the match against Croatia. Especially since this match will be tough, because Croatia with its defeat against Russia, doesn't have much choice now. If we beat them and Russia wins against the Greeks, they can be in a bad position. Plus they have strong players : Planinic, Vujcic, Popovic, Kus, Ukic, Nicevic… We'll have to do the same : try to break them right from the start, play 40 minutes and keep the level of defense we have. Many say we play teams that don't have a high level, but well, we're still the best defense. And we want to keep it, win this game and finish in the top 2 of the group.

On the other side the other group is crazy. With our luck we'll have to play against Spain, I'm sure of it. But after all it's a great team but they've aldready lost twice. And anyways we're able to beat anyone but we can also lose to anyone : we've lost to Finland, huh... So we'll see.

Today (saturday) we've been taken care of and there's workout tonight. But anyways it was a day off. Nobody went out, everybody stayed in his room to rest. They play Gameboy, Yannick [Bokolo] plays "Questions pour un Champion" on Internet [TV quiz show], guys like Alain [Koffi] or Boris [Diaw] play Mario Kart on DS… Aymeric [Jeanneau] really likes going out, visiting towns, having a drink outside, but everybody was too lazy to follow him. Antoine [Diot], who's in my room, also plays DS. Actually everyone's playing DS. The DS is popular in this team. Me, before games, I do my typical day : nap, a little internet and snacks.

We don't have internet but I do :) In the Internet room Ali talked about in his blog, there are wires. So I snatched one of the wires and I plugged it. And since the wire is super long it's plugged under the TV, but it reaches my bed. Sometimes some receive Internet but it's rare, it's a headache for them. Now I don't care, Im chill, I'm in my bed, I have Internet all the time. So I don't move, I'm resting, cushy, in my room. Reading in my bed bullshits the other dumb-ass writes.

Ali beat me about the Vujcic meeting saying I was goind to tell you about it, because he knows what happened was awkward. So he took the initiative. Vujcic and he have played in 2002 together. And at luch we're sitting next to the Croats. It was obvious Ali wanted to say hello to Vujcic ! And Vujcic at one point rose to leave, and then Ali, I do not know what he does, he puts his hand over his mouth and he is "Hummmhummm". One of these throat-clearing, saying "Look at me, I'm here ! " It was pathetic to see :) So Vujcic saw him. He recognized him and was "Oooohhhhhhh….." and it was obvious he couldn't remember his name :) But Ali was too happy, too delighted. So they had to go around the table to meet and it was like in movies : slow motion, with the small music ! Ali was happy and they cuddled. Then Aymeric (who shares Ali's room) told me that in the room he was in seventh heaven.

Ali's talked in his blog but he says a lot of bullshit :) I'm trying to talk about basketball, I'm not trying to have a bullshit contest. Tomorrow he'll be afraid to play against Vujcic. He'll be afraid to touch him, he will only hug him. At team presentation, you trade flags, I'm sure he'll go towards him and will want his flag so he can pin it in his room. Well Ali, I like him, it's a fair game. He's a good basketball player. Well a good attacker, but in defense sometimes he's tired to come back… No seriously I'm happy he's there, and he can defend anyway. Well I'm not sure about tomorrow... Maybe he won't dare.

Anyways, I saw the clash of lame play on words took well on Basketsession.com. Ali talked in the comments about his pun on Nikkila. It sucked ! I made one on Ranniko, the pinnacle of puns on the Finns. I said "The guy with number 15, there, he's pissed at me"."Why ?"."Because he always says ‘Rhhaaa Nico‘" So that's the level ... Or Mottola, his first name is Hanno. So it goes like "Ah no, no motorbike here." [moto means bike and là means here] Well, all that to say they're very, very lowbrow jokes, it's really pathetic. Not the level of some of the comments I could read on BasketSession. Some of them are really top level. I loved "Johan il se la Petro" [Johan is cocky]. "Le moniteur de Colo" too [summer camp monitor]. There was this one too "Yannick, il aime pas la 3ème mi-temps, parce qu’il aime Bokolo." [Yannick doesn't like the after party because he likes water very much]. No, to be honest you found really funny ones !

Well, I also have to say what Antoine did yesterday after the game. He was in doping control and came back after midnight. He enters the room and he's " I'm drunk ". In fact he couldn't piss in doping control and drank 5 beers to do it. He needed 5 ! When he came back he was in a good mood, gay, not drunk but he was happy. 3.8 grams in the blood in antidoping control… It was a scheme to disqualify us actually. They took the youngest : "the kid, let's make him drink 5 beers and we'll bust him positive" Thanks Antoine. He could do a contest with the bus drivers. Anyways they must have been told off, they're more calm.

Translated from this post

" Boris shut a lot of people's mouth "

At last ! Against Russia, we finally made a 40 minutes game, unlike previous games. Even if we were trailing in the 1st half we were in the game, we were confident. You could feel we had the game in hands, we didn't panic. They were playing everything, they went all out on the court because they were playing their qualification. But then Boris [Diaw] had a big game, Tony [Parker] and Ronny [Turiad] too. It wasn't easy because the Russians and Germany were a bit the same, the same context. Since they didn't have their stars they were playing without complex. They weren't favorites, so they wanted to show people that they could play well without them.

Anyways we managed to win and Boris shut a lot of people's mouth :) He wasn't really in a different mood from usual, he approaches each game to the max. But I think we gave him confidence, we put him in the rythm from the start. We did the first 3 systems for him. And voila, 19 pts, 7 rbds et 7 passes, it was just Boris.

From a personal perspective, well, I made a crap game. Honestly I wasn't tremendous. I wasn't very active. On the first 3 plays I'm 3 times in mode not there in defense. Honestly I did a crap game. On the other hand, we've won our 3rd game that's the important thing.

Especially after the game before... Someday it's not your day. And there against Latvia it wasn't our day. Definitely not. Yet I can't say we took bad shots. We took regular shots. But nothing was happening. The ring, instead of 18 inches in diameter, was 8. You couldn't do anything. It was strange but we were feeling at one point it would unlock. Ali [Traoré] however was on. Fortunately. Fortunately he was there. Fortunately he can do other things than writting bullshit on his blog and he can play basketball !! [Nic is refering to the blog Ali Traoré is writting during the Euro in the same site]

At half time we were pissed off. We were thinking " Fuck, we suck ! " The coach told us : " It will start to go in. We can't do better in defense. In attack we play well, we just have to put them in. " They only scored 21 points at half-time, barely 50 in the whole game. We were there in defense. We had to go on shooting. Vincent [Collet] told us " If anyone refuses a shoot I take him out. Go on shooting, eventually it will go in. " In second half, we put ourselves more in the rythm, we started running more and then reassured ourselves. Tony attacked the rim more, Nando [De Colo] and Boris made important shots.

After the game we were happy anyways. Because we've qualified coming from a long way, we've made the qualifications [for the Euro] and we've still passed the first round with 3 victories. It's the important thing. In a way, we prefer to laugh at our first half, because it was really too much.

The first game was hard too, a bit laborious. But we've taken the important thing. But to be honest it was a close call. The Germans played really well. Even without Dirk they wanted to show something early in this Euro. We knew it, we'd prepared but anyways... Maybe the pressure of the beginning of a competition and one week without playing made us completely miss the first half. But we weren't harmed, down by 4, and fortunately for us experienced players like Tony or Ronny have done a great mental job for us. They've talked, guided the others to be ready right from the start in this second half. They reminded us that we weren't going to rape them by 20 points, that they know how to play basketball and they have a good coach. And that we had to set our minds in the game because we weren't going to win like that. They've remobilized everyone.

After that we were more agressive, more enterprising in our plays even if they were still in the game. But overall, it was satisfying to manage to win this match in the money time with Tony guiding us in the end and showing he's the boss. And it was Flo [Pietrus]' 100th.

Today (thursday), we were transfered by bus. I confirm was Ali said : They're insane ! They go though red traffic lights, take the wrong way around traffic circles, they're close to knocking people over. We don't feel right. Well… This afternood was free, with workouts at night. So I took the afternoon to… SLEEP. Because we're really tired. And workouts today were only shoots. To get used to the new arena and to rest bodies. 3 games in 3 days is hard. I feel exhausted, I hurt everywhere. It's getting more and more intense. Intensity is one step further what I've experienced until now, with the intensity of each game and the fact that we play every day.

Tomorrow (Friday) is video at 11am, workout at noon, then nap, snack and Macedonia.

Well I've read Ali's blog including what he said about plays on words.[extract from Ali Traoré's blog : Nico tries to be as good as me on crappy puns but it's hard !] Ali has the worst plays on words in history. He can say whatever in his blog, but the worst are his, because mines are funny. Well sometimes... But his, never. With Ali we sometimes do battles of puns on players' name. And it's pathetic. I don't want to give examples because well... they're not brilliant. It can go very very far so I don't know if I'm going to give examples. Maybe next time.

Finally, I also read what he said on Kambala. [extract from Ali Traoré's blog on the German player : With him you look straight at your feet. He's got a crazy head, he looks like a cold war killer. Well on the court it's a different story because there'll be people to protect me. But in real life you're all alone. I wouldn't risk myself provocating him. He's a psycho we'll have to handle or he's going to hurt us, this Kambala guy.] Well at team presentations, Kambala made a slight boxing movement, and Ali wasn't feeling well, he was sweating for a short while...

Just in blue, Batum earned his stripes in the line up alongside Parker, Diaw. The Norman is the new gold nugget of French Basketball

The revelation of the qualifying campaign for the Bleus Nicolas Batum takes stocks a week before the start of the Euro.

Did you have doubts about the Belgians?

Not at all, we really were hungry to win. We've attacked since the beginning, then we went all out. We were pushed from start to finish. The public in Pau has transcended us. We were not 5 on the court but 7 805. We wanted to show the rest of Europe we weren't going to Poland and be kidding.

You're young, in the starting five of the Bleus and qualified for the Euro, what kind of feelings is it giving ?

It's huge. I'm 20, I'm going to the Euro, I'll try to take as much advantage as possible and make something great.

You've made great progress since you left Le Mans in June 2008. In what areas in particular ?

I think it's mostly mental I made progress. I 've made a step ! I feel more mature, better in my game.

You look super easy on the court

It is the impression I give and without bragging I'm not feeling exhausted ! I'm pretty pleased with myself !

"Parker, a model"

You are surrounded by names like Parker and Diaw in the starting five. How do you live with that ?

Parker, Diaw, Pietrus and Turiaf are locomotives. I told them, guys, I'm following you (laughs).

What a long way since Pont-l'Évêque ?

I was fortunate to be well supported very very early. In the pre-teen team in Pont-l'Evêque then in Caen under 16 (I'm the godfather of this team) and then in Le Mans with Philippe Desnos.

Last week you came back in your hometown to participate in workouts with the 5th division team of Pont l'Eveque. Is it a need ?

In fact I felt awkward staying 2 or 3 days at home. I like to settle ! It's refreshing to be in a gym I know well with players from my hometown. My sister is going to take class back in Portland next week. I'll join her with my mother after the Euro.

What inspires you the first-round group with Germany, Latvia, Russia?

It is very open because a few stars are missing but we must be careful because it is a European championship. We've experienced in Pau what having the homecourt advantage meant...

The France team has great potential, can it aim high in the Euro ?

Of course, we must just stay aggressive in defense, it's the key. Then we start running and we're hardly stoppable.

Vincent Collet said the minimum would be quarter-finals !

The minimum's minimum is to qualify for the World championship in 2010 in Turkey. In addition, winning a medal would be huge !

" 89 points in pre-teen "

Everything is going very fast for you ! A trajectory of a meteorite. Are you in another world?

No, my feet are on the ground. Parker is humble yet it is one of the best players in the world, a star ! That's an example !

"Humility is the beginning of talent" often says Collet. Do you feel it's true ?

Indeed ! I'm staying normal. I won't change !

The best memory of your young career?

My record for points in one game: 89 points with the pre-teen team of Pont l'Eveque (smile). My team made 150 and took .... 11.

NBA.com entitles this week's edition of their Rookie rankings At Season's End, Rose Rises Highest with a picture of Derrick Rose in Rose Garden laying up the ball.

There's no doubt the article is about Derrick Rose but it looks like an obvious wink at the City of Roses' new mantra : Rip City Uprise. I love small jokes like these when there's a double meaning.