Blood, sweat and tears as Victor Wembanyama inspires Team France to gold medal match

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.”