Germany secured its third straight Olympic win with an 85-71 victory over France on Friday. The reigning world champions displayed their offensive and defensive versatility as they overcame a French workforce that is overflowing with NBA-level expertise.
Listed below are three takeaways from Germany’s newest win.
1. Dennis Schroder is unstoppable for Germany
Each time Dennis Schroder performs for Germany, he elevates his recreation to a different degree. He ended the competition towards France with 26 factors, 9 assists and 4 rebounds whereas capturing 10-of-17 from the sector and 4-of-7 from deep. Schroder is a dependable beginning guard within the NBA, however he is a world-beater when enjoying beneath FIBA guidelines.
Schroder was the catalyst for Germany’s run to the FIBA World Cup championship final summer season and is already exhibiting related flashes within the Olympics. It may take a stringent perimeter protection to include him and drive Germany into making some robust changes.
2. Victor Wembanyama continues to flourish earlier than our eyes
Victor Wembanyama secured a double-double towards Germany. The 7-foot-4 phenom ended the competition with 14 factors and 12 rebounds, together with two assists, two steals and a block. Regardless of being pretty new to international-level basketball, Wembanyama has begun to flourish for the French nationwide workforce and seems to be going from energy to energy on a game-by-game foundation.
If his present enhancements proceed at this price, he’ll considerably influence France’s progress within the event and whether or not they can finish their participation with a medal.
3. France should make higher use of their dimension
France’s frontcourt rotation contains Wembanyama, Rudy Gobert and Guerschon Yabusele. Nevertheless, they ended the sport with simply 26 factors within the paint. FIBA guidelines are much more forgiving for bigs, and France has the spacing to make enjoying a middle across the dunker spot work.
Given their dimension, vertical spacing and the playmaking out there to them, France ought to dominate paint scoring. Whether or not that comes from having an enormous roll onerous after setting a display screen, working the ground in transition, or chilling across the dunker spot ready for lobs or dump-off passes, France should do higher at scoring close to the cup.