French Basketball Player Dominique Malonga Comes Close to Making History with Dunk Attempt at LDLC Arena

French Basketball Player Dominique Malonga Comes Close to Making History with Dunk Attempt at LDLC Arena

At the LDLC Arena in Lyon-Décines,

For nearly a decade, when you hear a contagious “oooooooh” during a French women’s team match, it’s almost always linked to a long-distance shot on one foot or a blind pass and/or behind the back from the inevitable Marine Johannès. But on Friday night, with less than a minute left to play in an easy victory for the Bleues against Serbia (85-63) in preparation for the 2024 Paris Olympics, this was only partly true.

Yes, the action of the match was indeed triggered by a brilliant no look pass from “MJ23”, in top form (18 points) at Lyon-Décines. Except that this time it was mainly the conclusion that brought a large part of the LDLC Arena to its feet. Because Dominique Malonga very nearly signed a pure moment of history, namely the first successful dunk in the middle of a match by a French basketball player.

“In training, it’s 100%”

Standing at 1.98 m tall, the promising 18-year-old centre from Asvel (after a very convincing loan spell at Tarbes last season) jumped perfectly with her left foot. Her right hand was clearly above the circle (at 3.05 m), but the ball escaped her a little and ricocheted off the back of the hoop.

“I’m all alone, it’s the end of the match and we’re more than 20 points ahead,” says Dominique Malongaall smiles after his great performance (7 points and 9 rebounds). We’ve been waiting for it for a long time, so I said to myself “why not give it a try?”, this is the opportunity. I really decide in a split second. I’m disappointed, it wasn’t far off, I just needed a bit of juice. Earlier in the game, it would have gone in for sure. But it shows that he’ll end up getting through, especially since in training, he’s 100% [vidéo à l’appui dès une séance en 2022 à Lyon]. I will continue to try and it will really be soon.

By clicking on “I accept”, you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners.

More information on the pageCookie management policy

I accept

“Girls can dunk too”

Marine Johannès shares her enthusiasm: “Dominique has already done it once or twice in training, and we’re just waiting to see her dunk in a match. She really got on our nerves, but it’s going to happen.” Twenty-two years after the iconic American pivot Lisa Leslie (1.96 m), first player to dunk in WNBADominique Malonga is ready to take over on French soil. In 2019, 20 Minutes interviewed Kendra Chery (only 1.88 m) on this subject, who had also attempted a dunk with Asvel in the end of a quarter-final of the Coupe de France that was not tight.

Although clearly too short at the time, the young Guadeloupean (17 years old at the time) confided to us: “For me, girls can also dunk. I have the impression that my body felt it. Basketball remains a passion in which you have to take pleasure. When you try a dunk, you feel other emotions and the public too”. There is no doubt that this immense brand new Arena of Lyon-Décines, with more than 9,000 spectators, encouraged Dominique Malonga to dare such a feat on Friday evening.

“We are well aware that we girls still have trouble filling basketball halls,” notes the person concerned. Here, people came for the boys [qui se sont inclinés juste après 67-79 face à la Serbie de Nikola Jokic]but in the end they are there for us too. We like playing with an audience like that, which creates a great atmosphere.” And Dominique Malonga is eager to totally electrify the crowds with a historic smash, maybe even in the middle of a match at the Paris 2024 Olympics, who knows.

2024-07-13 02:32:00
#Dominique #Malonga #pulled #historic #dunk #French #womens #basketball

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *