If winning ugly is an art form, consider the French men's basketball team the Picassos of the Paris Olympics.
Just like the quarterfinal against Canada, Victor Wembanyama simply couldn't get it going on offense against Germany, finishing just 4-of-17 from the field. And just like the quarterfinal, Les Bleus found a way to survive anyway, riding another sensational performance from its pair of unsung heroes and some smothering defense to a 73-69 win and a spot in the country's second straight gold medal game.
"For all of us, staff, players, it's a dream to be able to play the finals in Paris," head coach Vincent Collet said. "And that's what we said before the game tonight. I asked the players, 'Are you going to let the German team steal the finals from your hands?' They were answering, 'No, no way, no way, we die on the court, but no way.' That's why we did it."
Collet stuck with his lineup change from the quarterfinal, benching Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier in favor of the relatively little-known Guerschon Yabusele and Isaia Cordinier. Once again, the gambit paid off: The duo were France's high scorers on Thursday, combining for 33 points on 13-of-24 shooting from the field. Yabusele, in particular, was all over the court, shooting 7-of-11 from the field, grabbing seven rebounds and playing with his hair on fire at all times.
"Those last two games, he's been the heart of our team," Gobert said. "The guy's dominant."
The smaller look also helped unlock a swarming France defense, holding Germany to just 44 points over the final three quarters and hounding the previously unstoppable Dennis Schroder into a 6-of-18 day from the field. It was that defense that dragged France back into the game after a slow start; largely shelving Gobert — the four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year played just five minutes as he continues to battle a finger injury — created some ultra-athletic, ultra-switchable lineups, lineups that Germany never found an answer for. The Germans scored just 25 points over the second and third quarters, allowing France to slowly but steadily build a double-digit lead.
That lead almost evaporated over a very nervy final few minutes. France didn't score a field goal over the final 6:28 of game time, and a Franz Wagner 3 from the logo cut the lead to just two with 39 seconds to play. But Wagner couldn't cleanly corral a defensive rebound on the ensuing possession, and Wembanyama and — who else? — Cordinier made free throws to ice the game away. From there, the party was on in Paris:
You could almost feel the emotional release the moment the clock struck zero at Bercy Arena. With Wembanyama on the scene and the Olympics on home soil, France had poured everything into this tournament, a golden chance to finally reach the heights that have alluded it for nearly a century. It rarely looked pretty — an offense frequently stuck in neutral, a near upset against Japan, a blowout loss to this same German side to close group play — but no one remembers pretty anyway. They will remember the scene on Thursday afternoon, Wembanyama in tears while past luminaries like Tony Parker looked on from courtside.
“Incredible, incredible moment," Wembanyama said. "The fans made it hard for me not to cry. I thank them for being as they are and for enjoying it as much as they do — this chance, this thing that we’re all living."
There's still, of course, one more game to play, a potential Tokyo rematch against the big, bad U.S. on Saturday with a gold medal on the line. But however that game plays out, it won't change the fact that this win felt like the validation of something. For now, it's time to celebrate.