From our Olympics correspondent in Paris – France surged through to the men’s basketball finals Thursday night after a hard-fought victory over Germany that had Paris’s Bercy Arena incandescent with joy. Les Bleus will be fighting the US team for gold on Saturday after the Americans clawed back a desperate victory of their own from the dominating Serbian team.
As the two pre-eminent powers of continental Europe, France and Germany have fought three all-out wars in the past century and a half, give or take a few years. As the German men’s basketball team surged ahead in the first quarter of the semi-finals against France on Thursday night in Paris’s Bercy Arena, a fresh outbreak of hostilities didn’t seem altogether out of the question.
The French fans had every reason to be on edge. Despite winning a shattering victory over Canada just two days before, France’s Les Bleus were still raw from a 71-85 loss to the Germans last week in Lille. As the reigning world champions’ lightning assault pulled them out in front, the French supporters seemed to be living through their worst nightmares all over again.
With French fans outnumbering Germans in the stadium by a factor of – conservatively – 20 to one, the atmosphere was intense. The German side was welcomed onto the court with a hearty chorus of boos, which redoubled every time one of their players took a free throw, sank a three-pointer or, on one occasion, got injured.
But for all that, the main mood in the arena was one of open exultation. The roving Dance Cam had only to glance at spectators before they erupted into their most earnest and artless moves, magnified tenfold on the vast screens overhead.
Throughout the Games, the organisers have drawn on a uniquely French tradition to signal the start of each event. Echoing the strict pageantry of the French theatre, a celebrity will stride onto the court holding a sceptre crowned in red velvet, striking it three times against the floor to open the match. Most times, it’s an athlete, often an Olympic champion in their own right. Tonight, it was an astronaut – France’s favourite spaceman and sports fan Thomas Pesquet.
After trailing the Germans 12-2 early on as the crowd looked on, aghast, France began to regain its momentum in the second quarter. An almost perfunctory slam dunk by the towering Victor Wembanyama drew the score even at 33-33 going into half-time. After a tense break punctuated by a brief but memorable can-can performance – what else were you expecting? – the game continued.
Driven on by the screaming crowd, the French side began to pull out in front. Deep into the last quarter, with just 40 seconds to go, it looked like they had pulled it off. Then Franz Wagner, one half of a pair of brothers playing on the German side, nailed a three-pointer, almost evening the score.
The game’s last seconds were frantic. Germany’s Dennis Schroder launched one last desperate shot. He missed – the game was over. One of the French players sent the ball spinning into the crowd in triumph, where it soared past row after row of outstretched arms to bounce down an empty stairwell into the deep recesses of the arena.
It didn’t make a difference – the crowd was screaming, dancing, beside themselves. A chant went up – “We’re in the finals!”. It went on for a long time.
By the time the US team walks on to the court to face Serbia, the crowd has calmed down a little. The Americans have packed the arena to support their all-star team, but they don’t seem worried – with Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the US side is said to be the strongest since their unbeatable 1992 Dream Team.
Things don’t quite go as planned. Led by astonishing performances from Aleksa Avramovic and team captain Bogdan Bogdonavic, the Serbians seize the lead early and don’t let go. The countless US flags hang limp in the stands – the fans can’t believe what they’re seeing. At one point, the Americans are down 17 points, with the Serbians landing shot after shot from behind the three-point line. Curry is everywhere, unerring and unstoppable, but it’s not enough. By half-time, the US team is still down 11 points, and the fans have fallen silent.
Well, the US fans at least. The French supporters have brought their own tradition to the 2024 Games. The rules are simple: when Cameroonian-American player Joel Embiid goes near the ball, you boo, as loud as you can and for as long as you have to.
It’s a long story. Embiid once entertained the idea of playing for France one day, and was even granted French nationality in 2022. He subsequently committed the faux pas of sticking with the US team, whom he said he felt more comfortable with. French basketball fans have not been understanding.
But the US team that comes back after half-time is not the same one that walked shaken from the court a quarter-hour earlier. Slowly, furiously, they wear down Serbia’s lead, until James drives his way to the hoop deep into the final quarter and evens the score. A three-pointer from Curry – who nailed nine such shots throughout the game – pulls them out ahead. Stunned, the Serbians launch a feverish final assault. It isn’t enough.
The stands are in a frenzy. Some of the Serbian players are in tears. Unheard all through the first half of the game, shouts of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” are now hammering the stadium’s walls. The French fans are ecstatic, already delirious at the thought of the dream match-up to come on Saturday. It’s been a nerve-wracking night of basketball at Bercy Arena, and the mood has a manic edge to it.
It’s a disappointing end for the Serbians, who saw their chance at gold – or even silver – stolen away in mere seconds. Speaking after the game, Bogdanovic is philosophical.
“I still believe that we could have won this game, a couple of possessions, a call goes our way, a couple of shots," he says. "But that is basketball. You should be proud even if you lose a game like this.”
