Boris Diaw gets back on the court !
Former French national team captain and NBA 2014 champion, Boris Diaw shows us the daily adventures of his team Biscarosse Olympique Basket in the race for the « Coupe du monde des Landes ».
The Landes cup gathers every club of this county situated in the south-west of France to elect one local champion during the finals on the June 1st in the Mont-De-Marsan bullrings. We follow Boris Diaw and his team of friends and fellow retired players in an adventure to bring home this very last trophy missing on his shelves.
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During my career, I won a lot of trophies. Amongst the most important, there’s the French league title with Pau, the EuroBasket with the French team in 2013, and of course the NBA title in 2014 with Tony. Every title means a lot to me. The Coupe des Landes is about regional supremacy
But it’s a trophy you have to win if you’re a player from the Landes. It’s the World Cup of the Landes. And this year, the final takes place in the bullring of Mont-de-Marsan, the city I grew up in, where I studied, and where I took my first steps in my career.
It’s a project with childhood friends. This Coupe des Landes is a great opportunity to get back together. There’s the Beesley brothers, the ones I’ve known the longest. My mother played with their mom in Mont-de-Marsan in 1982. Nicolas Gayon and Matthieu Dabadie are the ones I was with in the sports study programme.
Paco Laulhé, the coach, organized the summer camps. Even when we had vacation, we loved basketball so much we were doing camps in the summer. Jean-Daniel Barrouillet was more an opponent, because he played in other teams when I was in Bordeaux in the local league.
Simon Darnauzan was in the sports study program too, he was a bit older and went to Pau. I followed his steps, he led the way. We’re relaxed but we have pressure. 1, 2, 3, Bisca! The first talks with Boris were in 2015 or 2016,
When Freddy Fauthoux, a famous Landes player, came back at Horsarrieu, his former club and won the Coupe des Landes. He started to trash on Boris, saying he won the trophy and Boris didn’t. Boris didn’t take it well and said to us : “guys we also have to win it at some point.”
Boris is the centerpiece of the project because he was there the first time we talked about it. We were talking about it, he thought it was fun and he said why not. In the beginning, he was one of the few that wanted it to be more than just for fun.
We said that it was now or never so in July and August, I took things in hand and I tried to carry the project, to call the club and the teammates, to see how we can do it, what were the rules and what we had to do. That happened not long ago.
We’re doing something that has never been done before so they told us we had to have a license, to play in the league, to be like any other team. And then the rules of the Coupe des Landes would apply. It’s an historic event, this tournament has been around for 30 years,
All the small Landes villages are enthusiasts and have a good level, because with villages tens of kilometers away from each other, some clubs are in the 4th or 5th division. The Coupe des Landes is also called the Landes World Cup, it means something! It represents how specific this cup is.
It’s not to gloat over other regions or basketball committee but it’s something because there’s a real craze. The Coupe des Landes for someone from Landes is the competition. Everyone knows about it, everyone goes see it. From kids to elderly people, everybody wants to be a part of it.
It’s a goal in the career of a Landes player. We don’t reveal this trick to opponents, it’s between us… Come on, look at that! In the Landes, we were told to eat pâté. Did you take a nap before the game ? We’re a team of retired players with our bodies hurting everywhere,
That didn’t play a real basketball game in a while. It’s this project that made us wear our sneakers again. That’s a human adventure beyond basketball. During the first training session, we all looked at each other and we were reassured, thinking it was not bad. Everyone gives it all and is in shape.
I’m aware that before saying we’ll win it, we have to be in shape. Because, for now, it’s clear that we can’t win the cup. I want us to go as far as possible and if we’re in good shape, maybe we can go far but I’ll stay humble for now.
How are you ? Fine and you ? We’ll try to not look like fools. Because the worst thing, and I don’t want to say it, would be to lose that game. And we would be out. There’d been a lot of noise just for that. We have to win this game.
With all due respect to our opponents, we are lucky that their level will slowly increase. We’ll find our rhythm and our basketball instincts step by step, without the physical condition we had before. We’re not in the unknown. We’ll go gradually. The whole project rests a lot on Boris,
And we know he’s not there tonight and we want him to play at least one game of the Coupe Des Landes. So we have to win tonight. And we’ll see how it goes. Here comes the locker room, there’s pressure ! In the right order, please !.
Simon, can you explain to us why you chose the 21 ? It was the last number I wore in my career, the 21 in Bourg-en-Bresse. It’s my daughter’s birthday. I chose the 40 because we’re in the Landes and it’s the department number. I’m not used to it anymore !
In your head, it’s like it used to be, look how you were flying on the first training session. But your body needs a little callback. It will be like that during this entire story. 1, 2, 3, Bisca! Come on! There’s no cameras, nothing! He filmed the shot on your face! The counterattacks…
I didn’t ask for that, I told them to stop running! Tell them we work on half-court offense, counterattacks are useless. Come to training first! We set a triangle with the three bigs and the two guards are in charge of making things click. 1, 2, 3, Bisca! Well done!
You have to win the cup, guys! We’re tired! It’s auspicious! We can do it. Boris will bring his… – Ass! – His big ass, yes. Someone told me to say that. Cédric Beesley couldn’t miss a thing, because they scored two 3-pointers on him,
Just like if it was raining.. you have to wear protection. I want to explain something. I’ve never been a great defensive player, I won’t become one this year! 1, 2, 3, Bisca! I’ll try to make you shine. We’re here to have fun together, no worries. If I mess up, you tell me!
Yes, don’t worry about that! That’s my job. That too! Well, thank you! I don’t know how far we’ll go but we’re going there! That’s for sure. I told you i was cold! Listen, I’m tired after this first training session.
It was a long training session, it lasted more than 2 hours and 30 minutes. We need time to learn all the tactics but yes a little bit tired, I lack a bit of cardio. With the runs, we let them run too easily.
You can use your bums, you can move, lift your arms up. You have to play with craftiness. If we let them gain speed, it’s over, we have to be together and have a great solidarity to reduce their percentage. Biscarrosse! On Sunday, I played a league game with the young team of Biscarrosse.
It’s part of the commitment with this club, to play in the league and in the Coupe des Landes. Everyone of us will help this team in the department league. It was a great moment on the court, a pleasure even if I was short-winded.
If we give you the ball in a good position, don’t hesitate. It’s because we’re in front, because we defend and we score more in transition. That’s easy buckets, that’s why we’re in front. And because we make passes, we have to keep doing it.
When we find the open man, when you are the open man, shoot. Sometimes we’re open but don’t take the shot so we drive in the paint and take a more difficult shot than the one we had. If we have an easy shot, just take it. No need to make things difficult.
Come on guys! Let’s go guys, have fun. 1, 2, 3, Bisca; 1, 2, 3, Bisca! Our strength is our experience, our craftiness. Even if our physical condition isn’t great. I didn’t play a basketball game in 5 years, so I had to find the mindset again with the training sessions.
But it’s like riding a bike, you can’t forget it so it came back pretty quickly. I think they were also happy to play against us, happy to use this experience so there was always a good mood for now. We move on to the next round.
There’s 6 games left to win the trophy and play in the bullring of Mont-de-Marsan. We have to keep going and being serious while having fun.