France Defeats Germany 73-69 to Reach Olympic Basketball Final: Key Moments and Highlights

Paris (AFP)

The French team reached the final of the men’s basketball competition for the second time in a row, and the fourth in its history, by eliminating its neighbor, the world champion in Germany, by defeating them 73-69, at the Olympics in Paris.
The hosts regained their reputation as the Germans, who beat them in the group stage 85-71 last Friday, and now await to know who their opponent will be in the final. , and it will likely be the American team again. , champions of the last four editions, who will meet Serbia’s Nikola Jokic later.
Gorshun Yabusele and Isaiah Cordinier were at the heart of France’s victory by scoring 17 and 16 points respectively, the latter of which came in the dying seconds of Victor Wimbanyama, under the watchful eye of his coach in the San Antonio Spurs , American Gregg Popovich , added 11 points with 7 rebounds, and Dennis Schroder, with his 18 points, was the best player in Germany.
France suffered at the start of the game due to the tight defense of Germany, which allowed the world champions to advance 6-0 under the watchful eyes of the historic star Dirk Nowitzki, with Tony Parker next to him, the best player in the history of the host country, then 12-2 after two straight tricks from Schroeder and Franz Wagner.
Although France went into the atmosphere and scored 5 points in a row, the advantage remained with Germany, who led 18-9 with a basket from Andreas Obst, but the hosts made a strong fight and they returned strongly to the atmosphere by reducing the difference to just two points. 16-18 with a hat-trick from Cordinier.
Both teams entered the second quarter, with Germany leading by 7 points, 25-18, after scoring the last five points. Then they added a hat-trick through Weiler- Papp to lead 28-18, but after a very difficult basket by Wimbanyama in which he grabbed a foul and converted the free throw, the gap was reduced He reached 3 points 25-28, then reached 2 points 31-33, less than a minute before the end.
Wembanyama managed to get a 33-33 chance, for the first time since the opening whistle, with a show basket that was the last for either team before going into the half-time break. Nicolas Batum then sent the country host ahead for the first time with a score of 36-33 after a basket from outside the arc.
Reaching the middle of the quarter, France was leading 48-45, before extending the lead to 6 points 56-50 with a hat-trick from Evan Fournier with 1.42 minutes left.
The difference remained six points as the two teams entered the final quarter, then it became 10 points, about 3 minutes after it started, and then 13 points 66-53 with hat-trick from Frank Ntilikina, but Germany refused. give up, and reduce ee to 6 points 63-69, after a hat trick From Obst, then to only two points 68-70 in the last 38 seconds after three long trips from Franz Wagner.
But Franz Wagner himself destroyed his country’s hopes when he lost his balance after grabbing a defensive rebound and fell to the ground outside the field with the ball with him, moving to France in an end that saw deliberate tactical errors on both sides to stop the clock. , but Cordinier settled things when he managed to make two free throws in the last 7 seconds.