Le point sur le championnat par le site eurobasket.com. C'est en anglais je sais...ça vous fera travailler votre littérature dans la langue de Shakespeare
NM1: The point after Day 03 (
eurobasket.com, 25/09)
The three first NM1 days have yet been played. The results are already revealing some interesting trends. Three teams remain underfeated, among them the two ambitious promoted: Boulogne and Blois. 6 teams grabbed two victories and 6 others, only one. And finally the tree lasts are still looking for a first victory.
Undefeated: Antibes, Blois, Boulogne
The azureans, with their long history, don't want to get stuck in NM1. Their strong roster appears with an inflexible defense (55.33papg) and the names of defeated teams (Fos, GET, Angers) reveal that Mollinari (17.7ppg, 3.0rpg, 2.7apg, 4.0apg) and Co already found the good chemistry.
The two promoted have also taken a bright star and confirmed their ambitions. Blois scores 84.0ppg with a three headed punch: Blot, Brazil, Orr who scores 61,3ppg, grabs 16rpg, steals 6.7 balls and dishes 8.6 assists.
Boulogne is also in buisness. The "maritims" who welcomed Momo Kante in the paint have a 51% accuracy figure and 6 players
above 11 evaluation points (Sylla, Pierre-Joseph, Kante, Szymkowiak, Sahraoui and Miller).
They are starting well: , Angers, Challans, Charleville, Fos, GET Vosges, Lievin
Not many surprises here, for some of those teams their single loss is already a disillusion. Fos lost its opening game @ Antibes but grabbed two strong wins vs Bordeaux and @ Charleville. Babou Cisse suffered against Mollinari but found the good rythm since (12.3ppg, 4.7apg). Toto (17.3ppg 64%, 5.0rpg, 3.7apg) and Wallace (15.3ppg 65%, 8.7rpg) are in the best conitions to
accomplish a tremendous year.
Charleville had a nice start but we've seen that Fos grabbed the two points in the Ardennes. If the frenchmen are quite satisfying the foreigners are suffering. Epperson (8.3ppg 32%, 4.7rpg) is ways under the expactations and Bjegovic is unexistant (1.7ppg 20%, 1.7apg).
Angers had also to face Antibes's jaws but did the job @ Lievin and vs Andrezieux. If Michael Doles assumes his scoring leadership (17.0ppg 50%, 5.0rpg), the rest of the teams will have to raise its offensive level. The accuracy figures are skinny (43% in global, 52% at the FTs), the rebounding sector reveals only 23 boards per game.
The GET Vosges ranks also among Antibes's victims but with 40 points allowed to Andrezieux and a serious win in Bordeaux, the vosgians are in their end 2006/2007 footprints. Especially as Cransac and Thevenon are expected soon at a better level. For the moment the two combo-guards only totalize 4.0 and 6.0 ranking points. The assist/TO rating is also to be improved as it is negative by 4.3.
Challans still ranks in the first part but did not meet any team from the first part. Marc Judith has a tremendous start (13.3ppg 53%, 5.3rpg, 2.7spg, 3.3apg), Boutry, Correa and Dora have also nice figures but the reds loose round 20 balls per game.
Lievin starts well also. No surprising victory nevertheless but a unhabitual solidity (+13 vs Longwy, +15 @ Andrezieux). Anthony Jackson made the figure of the season start: 20pts, 23rbs vs Longwy. The paint looks strong with Jackson associated to Cilly who also grabs round 10 boards per game.
Already under pressure: Bordeaux, Feurs, Lille, Longwy, St-Chamond, Toulouges
This is especially true for some teams that are not used to have a negative balance like Bordeaux, Lille or St-chamond. St-Chamond erased its initial loss in Boulogne by defeating Challans but lost last week in Longwy. Russel isn't the go-to-guy yet (8.7ppg 43%, 6.3rpg) and Massenya plus M'Baye are injured. A situation that weakens the inside sector.
Lille couldn't contain Charleville and Blois and had to wait its third game to grab an expected victory against the CFBB. Accuracy is a huge problem as only three players are above 40% over the first games. On the other side Taccoen and Kere's productions are really interresting with respectively 13.7ppg (55%), 8.0rpg and 10.0ppg (53%), 7.0rpg.
Bordeaux didn't confirm its initial victory vs Mulhouse. But with Fos and GET, the menu was heavy. The team grabs its energy from its 9 men rotation (all evaluated between 4.3 and 14.7) but Owona and Kent count for 37% of the total evaluation. With Preira and Diop shooting under 40% and 16.7 turnovers, coach Davis knows what to work.
Feurs totalizes a single win @ CFBB but had also difficult games against Challans and Boulogne. Three main problems for coach Sorrentino: with only 5 players above 4.0 ranking points, the rotation is too short. Moreover, Soderberg hasn't the same impact than the injured Aultman (9.0ppg, 5.0rpg) and the team can't reach an average of 25 boards per game. Hopefully, Herve Jalce is in a wonderfull shape (20.0ppg 56%, 5.3rpg) and he is nicely seconded by Trobo and Gourgeon.
Toulouges follows the same scheme with a single win against CFBB. If the menu was also heavy, the losses were huge: -24 @ Blois and -20 @ Boulogne. For the moment Altier and N'Sima are injured what leads to a skinny rotation in the paint despite Nelson's efforts (13.7ppg 59%, 6.0rbs).
Longwy started with two losses on the road (Challans, Lievin) but grabbed a short win last Saturday against St-Chamond. Two big problems can be underlined: a 39.7% accuracy and 18.33 turnovers per game. Coombs had some nice games but the rotation is too short as Lopes and Atinkpahoun bring only a total of 2.3evaluation points.
Still chasing a winning game: Andrezieux, CFBB, Mulhouse
For the two first nominated it is not quite a surprise. But who could think that the mulhousians would start this year with three defeats.
The Alsatians got kicked by Bordeaux for the opener (-24), then Charleville won by 16 at the palais des Sports and finally last Saturday, Blois had already a 15pts advantage at halftime. Enough for the staff who called Sandjay Adell back to Mulhouse. The team was really missing a scoring leader. Brandon Crone will be released as he never confirmed his CV (7.7ppg 31%). Yet, only the inside sector can be ranked in the team "pros": 23.4ppg, 14.4rpg but 7.6topg for the duo N'Dour-Kaczmarow. The assist/TO ratio is desperate (-6.7) as well as the accuracy (39%) and the 79.33papg (18th).
Not the same surprise for Andrezieux but the same urgency in the situation. The problem is located in the offensive sector. With only 55.6ppg (40-59 at home vs GET!) and nobody over 1.7apg, the third (!) NM1 team from the Loire will have to react soon to avoid a very difficult season. Here also, the staff is looking for a new player, in the inside sector.
The CFBB launched its (very) new generation in the NM1 jungle. Two difficult games to get initiated (-20 vs Feurs, -17 @ Toulouges) but some progresses have been seen against Lille (66-73). The good surprise is Alexis Tanghe's performance (14.7ppg 62%, 8.0rpg), Malela Mutuale is also showing good things (6.7ppg 30%, 2.7rpg, 3.0to, 4.0apg). But the team will have to find a scorer, for the moment Christophe Leonard is not at his best (9.5ppg, 4.5rpg, 4.5to).
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