By Steve Keating
PARIS (Reuters) – Bolstered by an electric home crowd, a turbo-charged French men’s basketball team won a 73-69 thriller over Germany on Thursday to send the host through to the Paris Olympics gold medal game.
France was led by a 17-point effort from Guerschon Yabusele while Isaia Cordinier chipped in 16, none more important than two free throws with seven seconds to play to blunt a Germany fight back and seal victory.
“I think the national team, this jersey brings to us that different energy that we can’t find nowhere else,” said Victor Wembanyama, the first Frenchman to be taken number one overall in the NBA draft.
“We can see how intense we’ve been over the last two games. It’s something that we all feel as patriots. We love our jersey. We love our country,” said the 2.2-metre (7-foot, 3-inch) tall centre.
“The will to sacrifice for the team. The will to do the next pass, to do the next play for your teammate. It was always there.”
France, Olympic silver medallists three years ago in Tokyo, now await the winner between the United States and Serbia, who meet later on Thursday.
That contest will be a rematch of the 2016 Rio Summer Games gold medal final and will pit the star-studded squad led by LeBron James, a four-time NBA most valuable player, against the reigning three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
After a loss to Germany in their final group game, France came prepared for a battle and got one in a tense nail-biter that was not decided until the final seconds.
French fans arrived at the Bercy Arena prepared to party, but Germany dialled back some of that excitement when they jumped out to a 12-2 lead.
The Bercy was soon rocking again as France worked their way back, the crowd erupting in a mighty rafter rattling roar when Wembanyama hit the final basket of the half to send the teams into the break deadlocked at 33-33.
Now fully fuelled by the pumped up crowd, France powered to a 56-50 third-quarter lead and led 70-65 with just 40 seconds to play.
Franz Wagner dampened the party atmosphere by hitting a long range three-pointer to cut the France advantage to just two, leaving a stunned French crowd on the edge of their seats.
But France refused to buckle. Cordinier’s steely free throws turned the volume all the way up again with a massive celebration erupting as the final seconds ticked down, the players mobbing each other and dancing to roars of approval.
“Incredible moment with the fans,” said Wembanyama. “They made it hard for me not to cry.”
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Paris; additional reporting Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber and Vincent Daheron; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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