PARIS (AP) — Blood stained the neckline of Victor Wembanyama’s jersey after France clinched a spot in the gold-medal game at the Paris Olympics, courtesy of a fresh cut on the left side of his neck. He did plenty of sweating during the game and was holding back tears when it was all over.
Blood, sweat and tears. How fitting.
“In our national anthem, we talk about blood,” Wembanyama said. “We’re willing to spill blood on the court. So, it’s no big deal. If it allows us to win gold, I’m offering. Take all of it.”
Wembanyama — NBA rookie of the year, No. 1 draft pick, already an international phenomenon — has a new accolade. He’s an Olympic medalist. The only question is whether it’ll be gold or silver, something that’ll be determined Saturday night in the final game of the men’s basketball tournament at the Paris Games.
France is headed to its second consecutive Olympic gold-medal contest, after beating Germany 73-69 in the first of two semifinals on Thursday. It will be a title-game rematch; the French lost to the U.S. in the final at the Tokyo Games three years ago, and the Americans rallied from 17 down to beat Serbia 95-91.
Wembanyama was just a kid then, a 17-year-old who was in the early days of becoming known as an NBA prospect. He’s a bigger kid now, a 7-foot-4, 20-year-old who is already considered a national hero — not to mention one in San Antonio, where he’s been tasked with leading the Spurs back to prominence — and could see his star rise even higher on Saturday night.
“Of course, it’s part of a dream come true,” Wembanyama said. “We can be part of a goal that we set for ourselves months back. We can write history, even more. A once-in-a-lifetime dream.”
His final numbers Thursday, with San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich and team president RC Buford looking on: 11 points, seven rebounds on just 4 of 17 shooting. The numbers didn’t look great, but his impact went well beyond what was on the stat sheet.
Midway through the third quarter, Germany guard Dennis Schroder got by Wembanyama on his way to the rim. All Wembanyama had to do was basically turn around at that point; he stuck out his right arm and stopped Schroder’s shot from getting even the tiniest bit airborne.
In the fourth, he got Schroder again — this time, blocking a 3-point try. That led to a 3-pointer by France’s Frank Ntilikina at the other end, the hosts took a 10-point lead and Wembanyama pumped his fist in celebration. When Germany was chipping away late, Wembanyama made an unreal bounce pass through the lane with the shot clock running down to set up Guerschon Yabuschele for a pair of free throws that pushed the lead back to 69-60 with 4:00 left.
And France held on. Wembanyama’s free throw with 10.9 seconds remaining made it 71-68, Germany never got another shot to tie or take the lead and that was that. France celebrated wildly afterward, for good reason.
“The fans, they made it hard for me not to cry,” Wembanyama said. “I thank them.”
France already has pulled off a rarity: Home-court advantage typically doesn’t amount to much in men’s basketball at the Olympics.
The French will be only the third team to play for Olympic men’s basketball gold on home soil. The U.S. did it at Los Angeles in 1984 and at Atlanta in 1996, winning both times.
The U.S. (with the golds in 1984 and 1996) and the Soviet Union at Moscow in 1980 (bronze) were, until now, the only teams to win a medal of any color in men’s basketball at home; France will join that list Saturday by claiming either gold or silver.
In recent times, most Olympic hosts didn’t even come close to the medals: Japan finished 11th at Tokyo three years ago, Brazil was ninth at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Britain was ninth at London in 2012, China was eighth at Beijing in 2008, Spain was ninth at Barcelona in 1992 and South Korea was ninth at Seoul in 1988. (The exceptions in those years were the U.S. win in 1996, Australia finishing fourth at Sydney in 2000 and Greece placing fifth at Athens in 2004.)
Of course, those teams didn’t have Wembanyama.
He was a French hope coming into these Games, after his first NBA year in San Antonio saw him become the runaway choice for rookie of the year, a defensive player of the year finalist and someone who garnered plenty of All-NBA consideration.
He’s been great in these Olympics — and now has a chance to win gold.
“This jersey brings to us a different energy that we can’t find nowhere else,” Wembanyama said. “It’s something that we all feel as patriots. We love our jersey. We love our country.”
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