PARIS (AP) — Guerschon Yabusele scored 17 points and France beat Germany 73-69 in front of a raucous crowd to advance to the men’s Olympic basketball gold medal game.
Isaia Cordinier added 16 points and Victor Wembanyama finished with 11 points and seven rebounds to help France – which won the silver medal in Toyko three years ago — reach its second straight Olympic final.
The victory sent the crowd into a frenzy as France celebrated. After a postgame handshake with their German opponents, the entire team ran to the baseline and saluted the crowd — which seemed to get louder to acknowledge the tribute.
The Paris Games host nation will play the winner of Serbia and the U.S. on Saturday.
Dennis Schroder led Germany with 18 points. Franz Wagner added 10 points and eight rebounds.
This ends the incredible run the Germans have been on over the last two years. Dating back to winning last year’s World Cup they had won 12 consecutive games in major international competition.
With French and German basketball icons Tony Parker and Dirk Nowitzki sitting side-by-side at courtside, France outscored Germany 38-25 in the second and third quarters to take a 56-50 advantage into the fourth.
But Germany didn’t go quietly.
It closed within 69-65 on a layup by Schroder with under a minute to play. Following a free throw by Frank Ntilikina, Germany cut the deficit to 70-68 on a deep 3-pointer by Wagner.
France dribbled the shot clock down, but Nicolas Batum came up empty on a 3-point attempt. Wagner got the rebound, but tumbled out of bounds as he tried to turn and dribble up the court. It forced Germany to foul.
Wembanyama missed his ensuing first free throw, then calmly dropped in the second to take a three-point lead with 10 seconds remaining.
France opted to foul and sent Schroder to the line. He also connected only 1 of 2, leaving France up by two. Cordinier was fouled and hit both free throws to seal the game.
France stayed with the same modified starting lineup it deployed during its quarterfinal win over Canada, opening the game with Wembanyama, Yabusele, Cordinier, Nicolas Batum and Ntilikina. Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert began the game on the bench for the second straight game.
It didn’t yield the same initial success this around, as Germany took a 12-2 lead.
It forced France coach Vincent Collet to change things up less than four minutes in, inserting Fournier and later Mathias Lessort to help settle things down. They did, and France got back within seven points heading into the second quarter.
France kept that momentum going, outscoring Germany 15-8 over the next 10 minutes to send the game to halftime tied at 33.
The flurry included a two-handed, poster-ready dunk by Wembanyama over Daniel Theis that brought French fans to their feet.
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