Let's get this out of the way. I'm not surprised that Poland lost to France, 69-66 on Monday.
The French have six NBA players on their roster including Spurs star Tony Parker. They're also fifth in the world while the Polish are ranked just 42nd heading into EuroBasket.
That said, I'm pleased that Poland gave France a huge test, which bodes well as they finish group play against Israel on Wednesday and Finland on Thursday.
After a relatively quiet and a bit boring first half things got heated up in the third quarter. Rudy Gobert started to pound the Poles with powerful dunks while Tony Parker kept hurting them with his signature penetration skills.
But France couldn't shake Poland off and put the game away. Adam Waczynski responded from the deep with a fantastic sequence of three 3-pointers. Karnowski and Ponitka were efficient too.
The hometown French crowd couldn't believe that the game was too close for comfort. After all, Poland was fighting hard on every possession and were relentless against the "NBA All-Star" look-a-like French team.
The Polish Hammer didn't have an easy game. He was blocked on few occasions, was forced into turnovers. Bottom line, Gortat was struggling at times against the more athletic French, who have a budding star like Gobert. However, he managed to finish with 10 points on 5 of 11 shooting and 11 rebounds. What's more he could have sent this game into overtime with his last second 3pts (!) attempt.
Even though the Polish lost the game, they are making a name for themselves in EuroBasket 2015. They have earned some respect with tonight's performance against one of the world's best teams. If they can get into the knockout rounds, they will be legitimate contenders to advance a round or perhaps even more once the tournament gets in full swing.