Coming out of the group stage, Canada and Germany looked like the top contenders to Team USA for the gold medal in men’s basketball at the Paris Olympics, as France got absolutely blasted by the Germans to close out the group stage slate. That said, France got a chance to reassert themselves as a medal threat in the quarterfinals against a Canadian team that they would have a significant size advantage against.
Before the game even started, we got an indication of how seriously France was taking this game as they made a starting lineup change, removing Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier for Guerschon Yabusele and Isaiah Cordinier, trying to get more switching and versatility on the floor against the rangy, but smaller Canadian team. That adjustment paid big dividends as France jumped out to a 23-10 lead after one quarter, as they smothered Canada’s offense and walled off the rim with Victor Wembanyama lurking and roaming on the back line.
They extended that lead to 16 at the half, and it looked like a romp might be in store for the host nation. However, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would lead a second half charge that saw Canada get within two possessions on a couple of occasions late, with France struggling offensively. However, they would turn to the veteran, Fournier, who came off the bench to score 15 points including a pair of late threes, the second of which was a buzzer-beating heave at the end of the shot clock from near midcourt that sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Fournier finished the night shooting 3-of-6 from deep, including the miraculous dagger that put the game on ice, as he made the most of his role change coming off the bench. The lineup change worked wonders for France, as Yabusele (22 points, five rebounds) and Cordinier (20 points) led the way offensively, as Canada just had no answers for Yabusele’s physicality in the paint (he went 8-of-9 from the free throw line) and Cordinier gave France a much-needed jolt of shooting from deep (4-of-5 from three).
Wembanyama struggled with his shot, scoring just seven points on 2-of-10 shooting, but pulled in 12 rebounds with five assists, three steals, and one block as he thrived defensively in the anchor role with Gobert out. The 4-time NBA DPOY played just under four minutes, all in the first half, as he just didn’t factor into the French rotation in this one. That proved to be the right decision from the French coaching staff, as the Canadian squad’s lack of size (Dwight Powell is their starting center) gave few opportunities to leverage Gobert’s best abilities as a defender.
It’ll be fascinating to see how France adjusts their lineups for the semifinals when they face Team USA (or Brazil, if they can pull an all-time upset), as the Americans have far more size than Canada with Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, and Bam Adebayo, but France had so much success with their more switchable, fluid lineup, they might want to roll with this group one more time at least to start.
