{"id":669,"date":"2024-07-27T08:35:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-27T08:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=669"},"modified":"2024-07-27T08:35:00","modified_gmt":"2024-07-27T08:35:00","slug":"wembys_olympic_debut_19_points_as_france_eases_past_brazil_at_paris_games-html","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friscotimes.org\/?p=669","title":{"rendered":"Wemby’s Olympic debut"},"content":{"rendered":"


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VILLENEUVE-D\u2019ASCQ, France (AP) \u2014 This was Victor Wembanyama’s\u00a0opening ceremony.<\/a><\/p>\n

No Eiffel Tower, no Celine Dion,<\/a>\u00a0no Zinedine Zidane, no Rafael Nadal, no Serena Williams\u00a0and no floating cauldron<\/a>\u00a0required. Just a 7-foot-4 kid with the eyes of the basketball world on him for his Olympic debut.<\/p>\n

And he didn’t disappoint.<\/p>\n

Lighting a torch of sorts for the French gold-medal hopes, Wembanyama had 19 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots, and France opened its run at the Paris Olympics by beating Brazil 78-66 in a Group B game on Saturday before a sold-out crowd of flag-waving, song-singing, wave-doing fans who came looking for a show and got one.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can’t underestimate the power of the crowd, the home crowd,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cI think it’s really going to be the sixth man for this whole tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did he consider this an opening ceremony?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, yeah, yeah,\u201d Wembanyama said. \u201cIt was way better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wembanyama \u2014 the\u00a0NBA’s rookie of the year<\/a>\u00a0for the San Antonio Spurs last season \u2014 and his teammates skipped the opening ceremony in Paris on Friday night to rest for their Saturday game. Lille is about an hour from Paris each way by train in ideal circumstances, but\u00a0the vandalism that disrupted travel<\/a>\u00a0on Friday would have only added to the transit time, and\u00a0being out in a downpour<\/a>\u00a0for a few hours probably wouldn’t have been the ideal night-before-a-game plan going into the Olympics.<\/p>\n

So, this was his first official Olympic event. He won the tipoff against Brazil’s Bruno Caboclo to get the party started and France \u2014 which trailed by 12 early in the second quarter \u2014 eventually shook off the slow start and found its footing.<\/p>\n

Put simply, Wembanyama was why. Brazil was powerless against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he did pretty damn good,\u201d France guard Evan Fournier said. \u201cHe can do so many things that sometimes it’s like a burden because he doesn’t focus on just one thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a three-possession display in the second quarter where the 20-year-old Wembamyama would post up almost in the same spot on the right block, wait for the ball, then just go to work.<\/p>\n