VILLENEUVE-D'ASCQ, France – The world’s biggest stage, and the pressure of playing Olympic basketball in his home country, didn’t seem to bother Victor Wembanyama much.
Wembanyama and French teammate Nicolas Batum each scored a game-high 19 points in France’s 78-66 opening match win against Brazil Saturday in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, France.
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The French men’s basketball national team is competing in Group B along with Brazil, Germany and Japan. Team Germany ran past Japan 97-77 earlier in the day.
Brazil started the game aggressively on the offensive end and prevented Wembanyama from asserting himself early. He took and missed France’s first shot attempt of the game, a 3-pointer, 21 seconds into the match.
After grabbing an offensive rebound, the 7-foot-4 phenom scored his first Olympic field goal at the 4:42 mark of the opening quarter. Despite Brazil taking an eight-point lead into the second quarter, Wembanyama became more comfortable in an Olympic setting.
A good example of Wembanyama’s comfort level came late in the first half with Brazil clinging to its four-point lead.
What even is Victor Wembanyama pic.twitter.com/zl6NKFaChA
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) July 27, 2024
France successfully wrestled the lead away from Brazil just before halftime and never looked back. The French team locked up defensively to start the second half, holding Brazil to three made field goals during the 10-minute third quarter.
Wembanyama finished the game with an efficient 7-for-13 shooting and also grabbed nine rebounds in 31 minutes. Batum, who signed a free-agent deal this month to return to the Los Angeles Clippers, went 6-for-13 and made three 3-pointers.
France’s next Group B match will be against Japan on Tuesday.