PARIS (AP) — With blue, white and purple flags waving within the stands and cheers blaring round them, France’s gamers took within the second.

Matthew Strazel erupted in dance. Evan Fournier ripped his jersey off and skipped round. Later, the crew gathered in a circle at heart court docket as followers erupted in an encore of, “Allez Les Bleus!” — “Let’s go Blue!” —- to serenade them.

Sure, the hometown crew is headed again to the Olympic gold medal sport. On Saturday they host a rematch of the 2021 Tokyo Video games gained by the U.S. The People superior after rallying from 17 right down to beat Serbia 95-91 within the different semifinal on Thursday.

“We simply wish to win,” stated Guerschon Yabusele, who scored 17 factors in France’s 73-69 victory over Germany. “Whoever, we’re going to determine it out.”

Isaia Cordinier added 16 factors and Victor Wembanyama completed with 11 factors and 7 rebounds to assist France – which gained the silver medal in Toyko three years in the past — attain its second straight Olympic remaining.

The raucous crowd at Bercy Enviornment was engaged from the very starting, hanging on each basket. And when the buzzer sounded, it despatched followers right into a frenzy. After a postgame handshake with their German opponents, your entire crew ran to the baseline and saluted the gang — which appeared to get louder to acknowledge the tribute.

“It was insane tonight,” stated France’s Nicolas Batum. “I can’t think about what it’s going to be Saturday. I can’t wait.”

Dennis Schroder led Germany with 18 factors. Franz Wagner added 10 factors and eight rebounds.

The loss ended the unbelievable run the Germans have been on during the last two years. Courting again to profitable final yr’s World Cup, that they had gained 12 consecutive video games in main worldwide competitors.

“After the primary quarter, they type of took us out of our rhythm,” Wagner stated.

With French and German basketball icons Tony Parker and Dirk Nowitzki sitting side-by-side at courtside, France outscored Germany 38-25 within the second and third quarters to take a 56-50 benefit into the fourth.

Germany didn’t go down quietly.

It closed inside 69-65 on a layup by Schroder with below a minute to play. Following a free throw by Frank Ntilikina, Germany reduce the deficit to 70-68 on a deep 3-pointer by Wagner.

France dribbled the shot clock down, however Nicolas Batum got here up empty on a 3-point try. Wagner bought the rebound, however tumbled out of bounds as he tried to show and dribble up the court docket. Germany was compelled to foul Wembanyama.

The 20-year-old stepped to the road and missed his first free throw, then calmly dropped within the second to offer France a three-point lead with 10 seconds remaining.

France opted to not permit Germany a shot at 3-pointer an probably tie the sport, fouling Schroder and sending him to the road. He additionally linked only one of two, leaving France up by two. Cordinier was fouled and hit each free throws to seal the sport.

France stayed with the identical modified beginning lineup it deployed throughout its quarterfinal win over Canada, opening the sport with Wembanyama, Yabusele, Cordinier, Nicolas Batum and Ntilikina. Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert started the sport on the bench for the second straight sport.

It didn’t yield the identical preliminary success this round, as Germany took a 12-2 lead.

It compelled France coach Vincent Collet to alter issues up lower than 4 minutes in, inserting Fournier and later Mathias Lessort to assist settle issues down. They did, and France bought again inside seven factors heading into the second quarter.

France stored that momentum going, outscoring Germany 15-8 over the following 10 minutes to ship the sport to halftime tied at 33.

The flurry included a two-handed, poster-ready dunk by Wembanyama over Daniel Theis that introduced French followers to their toes.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games