Paris 2024 men’s basketball: Blood, sweat and tears as Victor Wembanyama inspires Team France to gold medal match

The blood from the cut on Victor Wembanyama’s neck had already stained his jersey as he talked about the importance of what Team France had just accomplished.

It was literally blood, sweat and even tears for Wembanyama, who became emotional about helping France to Saturday’s gold medal game. Six days after being soundly beaten by Germany, watching the German players laugh in the waning moments of that blowout victory, France responded with its best game of the tournament, topping the Germans 73-69 on Thursday, 8 August at Bercy Arena.

Wembanyama sank a free throw to give France a three-point lead in the final 10 seconds and Isaia Cordinier sealed the pain with a pair of free throws with 7.4 left to send the arena into a frenzy.

France lost by 14 points to Germany in Group B play in Lille and was outclassed and pushed around. After the first period, France took command of the game, holding Germany to five points in the final nine minutes, 24 seconds of the second period with stifling defense. An 18-4 run between the third and fourth quarters gave France a lead it would never relinquish and Wembanyama was in the middle of the flurry.

Victor Wembanyama is living the dream

Wembanyama finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots, overcoming a difficult shooting night.

“It’s part of a dream come true,” he said. “A big part of a goal we set for ourselves months back. It’s a chance to write history even more. It’s defensively a once-in-a-lifetime dream. Nobody can produce that, and now we get our chance.”

The French team admitted it was overwhelmed by Germany’s physicality in the first meeting. Dennis Schröder controlled the tempo with his masterful ball-handling and shooting and Franz Wagner slashed to the hoop for easy baskets. Nothing was easy for Germany in the rematch. It committed 15 turnovers, missed 24 of 34 three-point attempts and Schröder missed 12 of 18 shots.

“They (France) out-rebounded us,” Wagner said. “They have long guards, long wings, and they did a good job today. I thought we did not play hard at times. But that is how it is.

“We did not play our best game and they have changed a lot since we last saw them. Give them credit. They made some good adjustments and won the day.”

To the Victor go the spoils

Wembanyama’s Olympic debut has been a rousing success for Team France. He has withstood the physicality, maintained his poise and stayed healthy. With veteran Rudy Gobert playing limited minutes because of a finger injury, Wembanyama has soaked up those minutes and flourished.

“The fans made it hard for me not to cry,” he said. “I thank them for giving us their all for enjoying it as much as they do, this thing that we all live in.”

There were definite adjustments made by France, especially on defense. Shots at the rim were challenged. Schröder was trapped and doubled-teamed, Wagner couldn’t slice into the paint for easy hoops. Germany appeared shocked by the new-look French approach and played with considerably less energy until the desperate final minutes.

Victor Wembanyama feeling the love for France

“What changed is we figured out ourselves a little bit more,” Wembanyama said. “We used all of our tools in avoiding the mistakes our opponents wanted us to make. It’s normal as a team to grow throughout the tournament.

“The national team, what this jersey is about, what it brings to us is a different energy you can’t find nowhere else and we can see it. It’s helped us the last two games. It’s something we all feel as patriots. We love our jersey. We love our country. We’re willing to do as much as this.”

Gary Washburn is an Olympic Channel correspondent and National NBA Writer for the Boston Globe.