Toulouse. The tasty mix of TMB strengths
The Toulousaines who perform an almost perfect exercise have (very) many assets in their game, both individually and collectively. Before the final return, tomorrow evening, in Grenoble, against La Tronche-Meylan, a small tour of the forces which should allow the TMB to win the timpani.
Isabelle Strunc, Kalis Loyd, Caliya Robinson… plus a collective, a defence, address address… Toulouse Métropole Basket already has the strength to win tomorrow, in Grenoble, the second victory against La Tronche Meylan, essential to become champion of France and return to the LFB he left in 2016.
The TMB seem so dominant since December that we quickly forgot their defeat in Calais, during the last day of the regular phase, which ended the series of thirteen consecutive victories.
Since the quarter-final first leg, the Toulousaines have resumed their march forward and are undefeated, in the wake of the Strunc – Loyd duo who are panicking the statistical counters. The captain is to date the MVP of the play-offs (26.4 average at the evaluation, 20.4 points, 18 out of 39 at 3 points, 5.6 assists) and the Swedish international (18 evaluation , 8.4 rebounds, 17.2 points) is not far behind.
“If we only look at one term of statistics of course they stand out, agrees Xavier Noguera, the Toulouse coach. Afterwards, we must not only look at the finality but also see how the actions are constructed. We often talk about points but we don’t look at why how the balls are given.”
We have a small idea. The TMB is the team that totals the most Decision Makers passes over the season and by sharing the ball, it makes it easier to score with, for example, a success rate of 35% at 3 points.
Defense ? A strong point !
But its special strength is its defense: 57.8 points on average conceded in the regular season while being the Ligue 2 team that commits the fewest mistakes (less than 12 on average in the play-off!).
“We announced at the start of the season, reacts Xavier Noguera, that we wanted to defend stronger. I think that we defend stronger and more intelligently. We saw last Saturday that this is what made us hold on when We had low moments offensively. Defense is the most important. We know that in these play-off matches, in the final, it is not the beauty of the game that will prevail but victory at the end. Finally, a word on the arrival of Robinson in January which brings an interesting point of fixation. “We can still exploit it better, admits the technician”.
TMB’s game is therefore not perfect… But what a delicious mix of its strengths!
