Victor Wembanyama, France survive an Olympics scare against ‘underdogs’ from Japan

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France — The little guys almost won.

In an Olympic men’s basketball game of extreme contrast in size between France and Japan, the host team that features the likes of Victor Wembanyama (7-foot-4) and Rudy Gobert (7-1) was almost taken down by 5-8 point guard Yuki Kawamura.

France ultimately won 94-90 in overtime, but the victory was far from simple. Kawamura, the Japanese 23-year-old who recently signed with the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA, finished with 29 points (including six 3s), seven rebounds and six assists to lead the way for his underdog team.

Even more remarkably, Japan was almost able to pull off the stunner despite losing the program’s best player, Rui Hachimura, to disqualification with 8:31 left in the fourth quarter. The Los Angeles Lakers forward, who finished with 24 points, had been issued two technical fouls and was removed, per FIBA rules, as a result.

Kawamura, in turn, took over.

With 1:06 left in regulation, he found big man Josh Hawkinson on the inside for a layup that barely floated over Wembanyama’s outstretched fingers and fell through to give Japan a three-point lead. Kawamura hit two free throws with 47 seconds left, then two more at the 16-second mark, to hold France at bay.

Yet with 10.2 seconds left and France down four, French point guard Matthew Strazel buried a 3-pointer from the left wing and was fouled to spark a four-point play that forced overtime. Kawamura, as it were, was the fouling offender on the play.

“Unreal,” Wembanyama said of the shot. “Even though I know Matthew, it’s probably the best shot of his life.”

EXCEPTIONNEL 3+1 SIGNÉ MATTHEW STRAZEL. 🇫🇷

84-84, QUELLE TENSION.pic.twitter.com/zq3pLNGL65

— Basket USA 🏀 (@basketusa) July 30, 2024

From there, Wembanyama came to life — finally.

The 20-year-old French phenom had scored eight points early in the first quarter, hitting two 3-pointers and a jumper to put France up 12-10, but he went quiet for a long period thereafter. In overtime, though, he scored eight of his 18 points while adding a block, steal and a rebound.

Wembanyama had 11 rebounds and six assists in all. He was asked afterward what changed in the extra period?

“Um, the realization of the dynamic of the game,” he said. “They were playing like underdogs, and we were waiting for them to punch a little bit too much. So I wanted to make a point and finish for us in overtime, and I think it worked.”

Japan, which also features a 5-6 point guard in Yuki Togashi, is considered one of the weaker teams remaining in the Olympic field. The Japanese lost to Germany 97-77 in a pool-play opener and will face Brazil on Friday. France, which is now 2-0 in pool play after beating Brazil in its opener, faces Germany, the reigning FIBA World Cup champion, on Friday.

Yet while these two teams are now headed in opposite Olympic directions, there was a mutual respect earned along the way.

“I mean, they definitely master their style,” Wembanyama said of Japan. “Except (for) the guys who’ve played against Japan before here, I don’t think we’ve experienced such a team. … We’ve got to give props, give respect to this, because they really know how to use their strength. We could learn from them.”

As Japan coach Tom Hovasse sees it, his team’s creativity is born out of necessity.

“When you’re playing against these great European teams, like the Germanys and French, they have such a physical advantage on us,” said Hovasse, who coached the Japanese women to a silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics. “We have to make the game a little bit chaotic, and we have to use our speed and our pace to kind of keep up with and negate some of the disadvantages that we have. So Yuki is the perfect guy. He can penetrate. He can shoot. He’s a great passer. So when you have a guy like that, you really have to utilize it. … What he did was great.”

Even if it wasn’t quite enough.

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(Pool photo: /AFP via Getty Images)