With Boston Celtics alum Shane Larkin out injured with ligament damage in his hand per Eurohoops, his Turkish National Team fell to the French National Team 87-86 in overtime as three fellow Celtics alumni sent Larkin and Turkey fishing in the knockout stage of EuroBasket play on Saturday morning.
On France’s side of the scoreboard, former Celtics shooting guard Evan Fournier put up 13 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal in an inefficient outing that saw him turn the ball over 4 times and shoot just 38.5% from the field overall. Ex-Boston big man Guerschon Yabusele added another 9 points, 3 assists, and a steal in what was a relatively quiet game from the Celtics’ former No. 16 pick.
Center Vincent “Sexpants” Poirier chipped in another 6 points off of the bench in the nail-biter of a win to help the French National Team stay alive.
The Boston Celtics were recently rated to have had the fifth-best offseason in the NBA by The Athletic senior writer David Aldridge — and this is what he had to say about that. https://t.co/LrO0D8XEFP
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) September 10, 2022
The news of Larkin’s injury likely explains much of his shooting woes in recent games for Turkey, the Miami product expected to be able to return to action in two months after getting reparative surgery.
“The goal is the gold medal but now the goal and focus is our next game in what’s probably the best Eurobasket,” said France’s Rudy Gobert after the game
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi