France ousts Canada to reach basketball semis
PARIS — France had an ugly couple of days after its loss to Germany in the teams’ group stage finale.
It turned those ugly days into possibly its prettiest performances of the Olympic tournament so far.
Guerschon Yabusele scored 22 points after being inserted into the starting lineup, Victor Wembanyama had 12 rebounds and France beat Canada 82-73 on Tuesday to advance to its second straight men’s Olympic basketball semifinals. Wembanyama finished with 7 points, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 block.
Isaia Cordinier added 20 points for France, which is looking to add to its medal haul after winning silver in the Tokyo Games in 2021. It will meet Germany, a winner over Greece, on Thursday.
“We had a lot of time to think, to fix things, and the whole team was just so dedicated to fixing everything,” Wembanyama said. “Now we’ve got a good base to build on for the final phase of the tournament.”
French coach Vincent Collet pulled four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier from the starting lineup. Gobert played just three minutes after suffering an unspecified injury in practice. Fournier didn’t see the court until late in the first quarter. His benching came after Collet took issue with some critical comments by Fournier after the Germany loss.
Fournier finished with 15 points, saying afterward that there is no ongoing issue with his coach.
“When you have guys that have the same goal, that are being competitive and trying to win, it’s pressure,” Fournier said. “It’s part of the game. … You just to have to handle stuff like that. And that’s what we did there.”
Wembanyama, Yabusele, Cordinier, Nicolas Batum and Frank Ntilikina started Tuesday. The group gave the team an energy boost, with France taking a 23-10 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Canada cut what had been 19-point second-half lead for France to five points with less than three minutes to go, but the rally stalled there.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Canada with 27 points, and RJ Barrett added 16. Canada has not reached the Olympic final four since 1984.
“The start obviously put us in a hole,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I think we won the rest of the game after the start. But when you start like that, it’s hard play against any team.”
With Canada limiting Wembanyama’s touches, Yabusele and Cordinier carried the offensive load for France.
France took an 11-point lead into the fourth, when Wembanyama, Gobert and Batum combined for just three points.
Canada cut the deficit to 71-66 on a steal and dunk by Lu Dort.
It was 73-66 with a little more than a minute to play when Fournier connected on a desperation heave from just inside the half-court line with the shot clock winding down.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
