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France will compete for the men’s basketball gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics after overcoming Germany 73-69 in the semifinals on Thursday. It was a hard-fought triumph, with Germany rallying from a 13-point deficit in the last minutes, but France won. This is the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics that the host country has advanced to the gold medal game in men’s basketball.The French basketball team has had an eventful 48 hours, upsetting Canada in the quarterfinals and now Germany, which it fell to in the tournament’s group stage. Despite a disappointing performance in group play, including a scare against Japan, France is back in the gold medal game, having reached the same point at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The French will await the winner of the USA-Serbia match, and if Team USA wins, it will be a rematch of the final three years ago. But, before we get ahead of ourselves, here are some crucial takeaways from France’s stunning win over defending FIBA World Champions Germany.Wembanyama’s meagre numbers do not do him justice.The box score will not reflect how important Victor Wembanyama was for France on Thursday. He finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and three blocks, so you may assume he had a regular game. However, he had a far greater impact on the game than his numbers would suggest. He struggled with scoring efficiency once more, shooting 4 of 17 from the field, but he compensated in other areas of the game. He fed his teammates in the right spots, grabbed rebounds, and showcased his strength around the rim by swatting away everything that came near him.The most astonishing block of the day occurred in the fourth quarter, when France led by ten points. Germany sought to make a run, and Dennis Schroder was wide open on the wing for a three-pointer. In most situations, he could have taken that shot cleanly, but not when facing Wemby. The 7-foot-4 French superstar took two giant steps to close on Schroder and block his shot. This was not a case of “Oh, he just grazed the ball, but it still made it to the rim.” No, he got the majority of his fingers on the ball when it was still in mid-air, stopping it in its tracks. As a result, France received the ball and pushed it in transition, leading to a 3-pointer by Frank Ntilikina on the other end.He blocked Schroder again as he tried to drive to the rim with Wemby lurking beneath the hoop.

 

Wembanyama’s presence in the game stopped Germany from driving to the rim, erasing a major amount of their advantage. Germany had averaged 29 points in the paint throughout the tournament until Thursday’s game against France, when they were held to only 28 points. It was obviously due to Wembanyama’s presence and a change in the lineup that allowed him more time to roam in the paint and make an impact.Wembanyama fell into tears following the game. You can tell how passionately he plays in the France jersey, and those feelings came to a climax as the bell rang.”It’s a chance to write history,” Wembanyama said of contending for the gold medal. “The fans made it hard for me not to cry.”France has the opportunity to accomplish the impossible if it confronts Team USA in the gold medal rematch. And if it pulls off the upset, the French men’s basketball team will win gold for the first time in Olympic history.Gobert makes another appearance from the bench.There were numerous confusing statements following France’s quarterfinal victory over Canada, as Rudy Gobert did not start and barely played three minutes. Gobert explained that he had hurt his finger during practicing. However, France coach Vincent Collet noted that the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year was not the sole reason for his limited playing time. Collet indicated that Gobert’s removal from the starting lineup was due to mismatches. He elected not to start Gobert because to Canada’s smaller, more athletic rotation, but he did confirm that the 7-footer would play in the semifinals against Germany.Gobert did not start again against Germany, and he only played five minutes as Collet relied on reserve centre Mathias Lessort from the bench. Lessort finished with 10 points and 4 rebounds. Guerschon Yabusele and Isaia Cordinier’s inclusion in the starting lineup paid dividends yet again, as they led France’s scoring onslaught. While Gobert may be battling with a finger injury, it’s clear that Collet sees this as a matchup issue and would rather play with a smaller, more physical group versus opposition teams.But the fact that Gobert can’t even play 10 minutes off the bench is ludicrous. This is one of the NBA’s top defensive defenders, and in the previous two games, he has virtually been a benchwarmer, only coming in to grab rebounds off free throws. Given the size of the Americans and Serbs, it is reasonable to expect him to return to the rotation, if not the starting lineup, if France faces Team USA. They’ll need him to defend Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic, even if it means passing up scoring chances for Yabusele or Cordinier.Role players impress once more.MVP chants resonated throughout Bercy Arena in Paris, but not for Wembanyama, Gobert, Nicolas Batum, or Evan Fournier, four of the most well-known NBA players on the French squad. Yabusele, the 16th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, appeared in 74 NBA games. He may not have participated in the NBA, but he is France’s unsung hero. He once again led his squad in scoring, with 17 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Each time he stepped to the free-throw line, he was serenaded with MVP chants, a wild circumstance considering just two games ago, he was coming off the bench for France.However, his inclusion in the starting lineup, along with Cordinier, provided the necessary injection of offensive scoring for this French club. Cordinier finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and two steals, proving to be the ideal guard for France in this tournament, alongside Ntilikina in the backcourt. He matched up effectively with Canada’s athletic guards and outperformed Germany’s Dennis Schroder (18 points) in the semifinals as well. Nobody expected France to go to the gold medal game only on the basis of its role players, but those players are the exact reason why the host country has come this far.