After delivering Canada their first loss in the Olympics Tuesday, San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama and France did the same to Germany Thursday, defeating the Germans 73-69.
By getting the win, France now moves on to the Gold Medal game Saturday against another undefeated team - Team USA.
As fellow Substacker Collin Reid put it, at just 20 years old, Wemby will have helped his national team win at best a Gold medal, and at worst, a silver medal, in his Olympic debut.
The Gold Medal game will take place Saturday at 12:30 PM CT.
As has been the theme in other Olympic games, Wemby has struggled shooting the basketball, finishing the game 4-of-17 from the floor. However, he has continued to have an impact all over the floor for Les Bleus. He added 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 turnovers, and 3 blocks in his 32 minutes for France.
The French national team not only had another stellar defensive game, but they got contributions from multiple players on the offensive end, with Guerschon Yabusele leading the way with 17 points, Isaia Cordinier scoring 16 points, and Mathias Lessort coming off the bench with 10 points.
Let’s jump right into the running game log for Wemby in this pivotal game against Germany.
1Q (Germany by 7)
Wemby once again started at the 5 for France. Early in the game, he was guarding Daniel Theis and on the other end, Theis was guarding him.
As the lone big for France, Wemby was able to cover so much space on drives and in the P&R. He’s able to quickly switch and prevent drives, then rotate back to his assignment on the roll. There were times though when Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroder would test Wemby, by trying to attack him to see if they could get him in foul trouble. Wemby finished with 0 fouls in the game.
Wemby struggled shooting the ball in the quarter. Most of his attempts were either jumpers or shots outside of the restricted area.
2Q (Game tied)
Early in the quarter, France went back to the Wemby-Rudy Gobert two bigs lineup that they initially began with in the group phase games.
2 points - Wemby’s first made basket came after he missed a double teamed post-up shot, but then his teammate tipped the ball back to him, and he made a fading shot right outside the restricted area off the glass, while being contested by Moritz Wagner.
1 block - On a defensive possession, Schroder tried to connect with Theis on an alley-oop off the P&R. Wemby was guarding Mo in the dunker-spot on the other side of the paint, and as Victor saw that Gobert couldn’t recover in time, he jumped toward Theis and blocked his alley-oop attempt.
5 points - On a side P&R with Batum, Wemby set the screen, then rolled. Batum delivered the pocket pass and Victor aggressively dashed toward the rim for a made layup with contact for the and-1.
With France in a zone and Wemby standing in the middle of the paint, one of the German big men tried to cut inside for a layup, but seeing that Wemby was there, he lost the ball off his leg.
1 assist - After France forced a turnover and ignited the break, Andrew Albicy passed to Wemby on the low block, and Victor quickly passed to Yabusele under the rim for the layup.
7 points - Victor got position in the paint against Theis, and Albicy saw this, so Albicy threw the bounce pass to Victor. As soon as Wemby caught the ball, he jumped up outside the restricted area and DUNKED on Theis with his left hand.
Germany was held to just 8 points in the quarter against the French defense.
3Q (France by 6)
2 assists - Wemby had the ball above the 3-point line, and as he scanned the floor, he saw Nicolas Batum duck in the paint. Wemby threw a one-handed bounce pass through traffic, and as soon as Batum caught it, he put the ball up for the made basket and foul.
2 blocks - On a defensive possession, Wemby got switched 1-on-1 against Schroder. Schroder tried to drive by Victor, but Victor hovered over him. As soon as Schroder tried to put the layup up, Wemby swatted the ball to the ground.
3 assists - Victor had Schroder guarding him in a mismatch, so France went to him in the post. As soon as Wemby caught the ball, Germany sent a second defender to double team. Wemby saw a cutting Lessort and found him for the made basket.
