VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France – The first three minutes were easy for Victor Wembanyama on Wednesday. That’s how the last five minutes went.
Everything else was a chore.
Grabbing his lower right leg after a quick exit from the court late in the first quarter, and then grabbing his left hip a few times later in the game, Wembanyama appeared to be working on some moments in France’s second game of the championship. Paris Olympics. He finished with 18 points – scoring a three-point play that put his team ahead for a good 26 seconds in overtime – and France ended up holding off a serious attempt from Japan, winning 94-90.
The tie was at 84 at the start of the extra session after Wembanyama wasn’t a big factor in the last 3-1/2 quarters of regulation.
The overtime was all Wemby.
He had eight points in the first 4:26. No one else scored a single point in that period – not from France, not from Japan – and he ensured the hosts would escape.
He had help, most notably Matthew Strazel’s four-point play to tie the game for France with 10.2 seconds left in regulation and Japanese star Rui Hachimura – who had 24 points – being ejected early in the fourth quarter following his second unsportsmanlike foul of the game. .
It looked like it was going to be a dominant night at Wembanyama early on. Hachimura didn’t even bother to jump to the initial complaint; he simply conceded to Wembanyama, who had eight points in the first 3:20.
But he was strangely silent from then on – that is, until the OT. And France would survive.
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