EuroBasket 2022: France loses in final despite 23 points from Evan Fournier

Sep 18, 2022 - 10:34 PM

France fell behind early and never really recovered, as Spain rode the hot shooting of the Hernangomez Brothers to a 88-76 victory in the EuroBasket 2022 final. Former Knick Willy Hernangomez scored 14 points in the final, while his brother Juancho dropped a game-high 27. Willy walked away with tournament MVP honors — not bad considering this tournament that featured huge names like Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic.

But let us focus on current Knicks. France’s Evan Fournier started off ice cold from beyond the arc, missing his first four three-point attempts. But he turned it on as the game approached halftime.

Fournier led Les Bleus with 23 points in the loss. He hit his last four triples, ending up 4-8 from beyond the arc. He didn’t have a great tournament shooting-wise, but he did his best to make up for that in the second half of the final. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to stop the onslaught of Hernangomezes.

Congrats to you, Willy. Somewhere, Phil Jackson is smiling, thinking about his former second-round pick. And hold your head up high, Evan. You did your nation proud. We’ll see you at Knicks training camp in a few weeks.