Wembanyama struggles as Germany defeats France
Germany rolls over France in statement Olympic win.
Two undefeated teams in the 2024 Paris Olympics faced off for an important game on Friday. The winner of Germany and France would finish group play undefeated and face a weaker opponent in the upcoming knockout rounds. The loser will likely face a tough squad from another group, like Canada or the United States.
Germany came out with a lot of energy and never took their foot off the gas, dominating France in an 85-71 win. Franz Wagner led the way with one of the best performances of the Olympics so far. He finished with 26 points, 5 rebounds, a steal and a block. San Antonio Spurs star, Victor Wembanyama, struggled for most of the game, but still led France in scoring, putting up 14 points, 12 rebounds and 2 steals in the loss.
The Germans’ defense was on another level on Friday. They were vicious at the point of attack and physical around the rim. They had 10 steals and forced France to shoot 45.5% from the field. They were aggressive all over the court and egging on the French crowd, the Germans showed a clear passion and fire to beat France specifically.
Wembanyama struggled to make an impact on either end in the first half. Germany did a good job of taking him out of their offensive action, although that led to Rudy Gobert getting a few early blocks. Offensively, France wasn’t able to get into their sets and the spacing in the Wembanyama and Gobert minutes didn’t leave much room for either of them to succeed. Wembanyama didn’t score his first basket until the second quarter and struggled to find looks in the flow of France’s offense.
“He stopped the ball too much,” said France head coach, Vincent Collet. “Against that kind of aggressiveness, you can’t play that way. You are never 1-on-1 because they come to double team and there’s no space to operate. It’s important to move the ball.”
France had just 15 assists in the loss. Part of that was due to the aggressive defense of Dennis Schroeder, who pestered France’s ball-handlers, disrupting them from setting up effective offense. Schroeder had 26 points, 9 assists and a steal for the Germans.
Germany took their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter, and France took advantage. The French got the German lead down to 12 with 6 minutes to go, thanks to a scoring punch from Isaïa Cordinier, who finished with 10 points. Wembanyama got a couple of threes to fall in the fourth, but it was already too late, as the French were merely playing for point differential.
With just two games left, the teams moving onto the knockout rounds include France, Germany, Canada, Australia, the United States and the winner of Serbia and South Sudan. Wembanyama and the French will likely take on Canada in the quarterfinals if the U.S. wins against Puerto Rico on Friday. The Canadians are loaded with NBA talent and have gone 3-0 in pool play. Either way, Wembanyama and the French will need to find a way to score efficiently against a tough opponent in the knockout rounds.
