Without the Wagner brothers or Daniel Theis, the Mannschaft is not really showing all its cards, for what is its very first preparation match. Opposite, the Blues are already warmed up after their demonstration against Turkey in Rouen.
In this match of pretense, it was the French Team, more serious and more involved defensively, which came out of it quite easily (90-66). Helped, it must be said, by a new stellar performance from Victor Wembanyama (25 points including 5/9 at 3-pointers, 5 rebounds).
Evan Fournier expelled!
It starts with a 7-0 run thanks to a dunk by Victor Wembanyama, who finds the 3-point circle in stride. The Blues resume their formula from the previous match, namely putting the ball inside with a big dunk by Mathias Lessort. This first quarter nevertheless gives pride of place to defense, even to clumsiness. At home, the Germans are very cautious offensively, with a dismal 0/12 at 3-points in the first quarter (23-11).
Vincent Collet leaves with his twin tower duo in the second quarter. And it pays off quickly with two dunks from Gobert, at 9 points on 4/7 shooting. Opposite, Maodo Lo puts an end to the chaos behind the arc, with the first successful 3-point shot for Germany. But Victor Wembanyama is the first player to reach 10 points with a big tap, concluded in two stages. Guerschon Yabusele hits first intention 3-pointer.
The Blues dominate, and tempers suddenly flare, with a scuffle between Dennis Schröder and Evan Fournier, which ends with the French guard being sent off, guilty of grabbing his opponent by the neck, 2 minutes before halftime. After a small 1/4 on free throws, the Blues find their line of conduct, like this big defensive sequence by Mathias Lessort who inherits the ball on the counterattack for a big dunk. The gap is significant at halftime (48-28).
Victor Wembanyama in recital
Bilal Coulibaly scores a 3-pointer and Victor Wembanyama quickly takes over. He first dunks like the Statue of Liberty, then a 3-pointer, then a dunk again on the fast break. It's a 12-6 for the Blues and Gordon Herbert stops the bleeding with a timeout.
But Wemby keeps the pace with a high-level fadeaway baseline. Schröder (23 points, 6 assists, 5 lost balls) limits the damage for his team who take advantage of a weak tricolor time at the end of the third (68-45).
The start of the last quarter was hardly more convincing for Vincent Collet who quickly took a time-out to refocus his troops. The defense left some room for the Germans who came back under -20, under the leadership of a very good Oscar Da Silva (15 points, 5 interceptions). But Wemby took care of everything, with two huge shots, one from very far away, then the other… with the board! The “momentum” tipped over to the blue side with Bilal Coulibaly who added another layer from far away and Lessort who punctuated the evening with a thunderous dunk 30 seconds from the end.
The Blues win this first round of the “friendly” duel against their German neighbors (90-66). Before the rematch this Monday in Montpellier. With squads reduced to twelve, to comply with Olympic regulations…
