VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — The little boys almost won.
In an Olympic men’s basketball match where France and Japan presented a stark contrast in size, the host team, featuring players like Victor Wembanyama (2.23 meters) and Rudy Gobert (2.15 meters), was nearly defeated by the 1.73 meter point guard Yuki Kawamura.
France eventually won 94-90 in overtime, but the victory was far from easy. Kawamura, the 23-year-old Japanese who recently signed with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, finished with 29 points (including six 3s), seven rebounds and six assists to lead the way for his underdog team.
Even more remarkable, Japan nearly pulled off the stunner despite losing its best player, Rui Hachimura, by disqualification with 8:31 left in the fourth quarter. The Los Angeles Lakers forward, who finished with 24 points, had been given two technical fouls and was ejected as a result, according to FIBA rules.
Kawamura in turn took power.
With 1:06 left, he found big man Josh Hawkinson on the inside for a layup that barely floated over Wembanyama’s outstretched fingers and through, giving Japan a three-point lead. Kawamura made two free throws with 47 seconds left, and two more at the 16-second mark, to keep France at bay.
But with 10.2 seconds left and France trailing by four, French point guard Matthew Strazel shot a 3-pointer from the left wing and was fouled, setting up a four-point play that went into overtime. Kawamura was, as it were, the play’s offender.
“Unreal,” Wembanyama said of the photo. “Even though I know Matthew, this is probably the best photo of his life.”
EXCEPTIONAL 3+1 SIGN MATTHEW STRAZEL. 🇫🇷
84-84, REDUCE TENSION.photo.twitter.com/zq3pLNGL65
— Basket USA 🏀 (@basketusa) July 30, 2024
From there, Wembanyama came to life — finally.
The 20-year-old French phenom had scored eight points early in the first quarter, with two 3-pointers and a jumper to put France up 12-10, but he remained silent for a long time after that. In overtime, however, he scored eight of his 18 points and added a block, steal and a rebound.
Wembanyama had 11 rebounds and six assists in total. After the game he was asked what had changed in the extra period?
“Uh, realizing the dynamics of the game,” he said. “They were playing like underdogs and we were waiting for them to hit a little too hard. So I wanted to make a run and finish it for us in overtime, and I think it worked.”
Japan, which also has a 5-6 point guard in Yuki Togashi, is considered one of the weaker teams left in the Olympic field. The Japanese lost 97-77 to Germany in an opening game of the pool and will play Brazil on Friday. France, which is now 2-0 in the pool after beating Brazil in the opening game, will play Germany, the reigning FIBA World Cup champion, on Friday.
Although these two teams are now moving in opposite Olympic directions, they have built mutual respect along the way.
“I mean, they definitely have a command of their style,” Wembanyama said of Japan. “Other than the guys who played Japan here before, I don’t think we’ve seen a team like that. … We have to give them credit and respect because they really know how to use their strengths. We can learn from them.”
According to Japan coach Tom Hovasse, his team’s creativity is born out of necessity.
“When you play against these great European teams, like Germany and France, they have such a physical advantage over us,” said Hovasse, who coached Japan’s women to a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. “We have to make the game a little bit chaotic and we have to use our speed and our pace to kind of keep up and counteract some of the disadvantages that we have. So Yuki is the perfect guy. He can penetrate. He can shoot. He’s a great passer. So when you have a guy like that, you really have to take advantage of that. … What he did was amazing.”
Even though it wasn’t enough.
Required reading
(Swimming pool photo: AFP via Getty Images)
