‘He can’t do everything’: Mets bow despite titanic Wembanyama

Grim looking, sitting on the bench at the last minute, Vincent Collet sees only the damage. Powerless. His team, which remained on 3 successes, experienced a real test this Friday against Chorale de Roanne. The latter confirms that she really irritates the Mets. Jean-Denis Choulet’s men have already won their two duels last season and have also won both this year.

After breaking a run of 9 successes and blowing up the Metz defense in the first leg (102-77), they led the heavy artillery to victory (84-102) this Friday at the Marseille-Cerdan de Levallois sports hall on behalf of the 19th day of Betclic Élite.

The Metropolitans are already gaining more than 100 points for the second time. Everyone faces the same executioner. So far, only the formidable armada of Monaco has managed to win on the Levallois field (in 9 games). A real nightmare… despite the Victor Vembanyam gala.

We left him on a boring performance, far from his usual standards. Victor Wembanyama, who scored just 11 points in a tight 82-83 victory over the Mets at Fose on January 18, had the second-worst record of the season. The match is on a par with the previous two (15 points against Asvel, 16 points against Dijon), during which the albatross did not hang, as usual, over the meeting. But on this Friday evening, returning home after two outings, the spectators found a prodigy of French basketball, elegant and, above all, effective in attack and defense.

“Victor is a monster”, Ekitike under a spell

Present on the edge of the field, his “almost double” from PSG, Hugo Ekitike, enjoyed the spectacle. “It was my first basketball game and the first for Victor,” the striker later admitted. It’s a shame he lost but he’s really impressive, you get it even more when you’re close to the pitch. Basketball is a physical sport and Victor is a monster. But it also has incredible technical lightness. That was great. »

Causing, as usual, the roar of the audience during the presentation of the teams, Wemby scored the first two points of the match, and then chained his team’s baskets. By the end of the first quarter, he had scored half of the Mets’ points … playing less than 7 minutes. 11 points, the same as for the entire previous match at Fose. Most importantly, he played honestly, did not force anything, did not miss anything. Or so few.

But without Tremont Waters and Hugo Besson to join the long list of players in the infirmary, the Boulogne club was too limited, too weak to withstand Roanne’s fury, all-terrain defense and many shots. Too clumsy partners Lahau Konate were pushed back 19 lengths after returning from the dressing room (50-69, 23rd). But 9 points in a row – including 2 three-pointers – and a counterattack from Wemby gave hope to the Levallois crowd (66-74, 30th place). A change in the situation seemed possible.

Came out a dark look

But the enlightenment will be short-lived. The fourth quarter will be a long test for the Mets, tired from so much effort and limited in rotation. 31 points, 14 rebounds and 5 blocks of Wembanyama throwing a grim look won’t be enough to smile at the Mets’ number 1.

“He can’t do everything, and fortunately, since basketball is a team sport, he can’t rely solely on one player,” breathes Vincent Collet. When he takes the rebound and misses, from behind it doesn’t look like him. It is a rarity. “The reaction is expected in the week in the hyped Blois.