Bulldogs

Reigning World champion Germany and hosts France will square off once again but this time in a bigger stage as the heavyweight matchup draws another chapter in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.&nbsp;
The Germans and the French have faced each other in the group stage over at Group B where Germany won handily, 85-71. NBA duo Franz Wagner and Dennis Schroder led the way for Germany as they stifled a France team eager to play in front of their home fans in Lille. The Germans punished the French on both ends of the floor in that game, capitalizing on misses and converting on easy transition points in the fastbreak.&nbsp;
That led to Germany finishing first in the group and facing Greece in the quarterfinals, winning 76-63. France ended up taking second in the group and matched up against a tougher Canada side with an NBA-laden roster. However, with the help of an active and energetic crowd in Paris, France rode the momentum to upset the Canadians 82-73 and set up a rematch against Germany.
This French crowd may just be the difference for France in this rematch vs Germany.&nbsp;
Key storylines to watch out for
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Victor Wembanyama&rsquo;s bounce back game</li>
</ul>
Victor Wembanyama played an ugly game vs Canada with his usual standards, only having 7 points on just 2/10 FG and 0/6 from three. Wemby struggled to find his offense all game long, missing mostly on wide open shots that he usually makes. He did, however, make a crucial defensive play with under 3 minutes to go by blocking a shot which eventually turned into an Evan Fournier dagger from 40 ft to push France&rsquo;s lead to 10. That is usually where Wembanyama&rsquo;s excellence is ramified &ndash; on the defensive end of the floor. Much is to be said for the highly-touted French phenom, but he absolutely cannot play like he did against Canada if France wants to win vs the reigning world champions. That said, it can be expected Wemby bounces back big-time one way or another.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Rudy Gobert&rsquo;s minutes</li>
</ul>
In a bold move, France head coach Vincent Collet opted to bring the NBA center off the bench for better matchups against Canada &ndash; and it worked superbly well. Guerschon Yabusele started in Gobert&rsquo;s place and eventually earned the player of the game honors with 22 points. Yabusele was the driving force of France&rsquo;s attack as he attacked the paint with his aggressiveness. His added scoring punch compared to Gobert&rsquo;s playing style helped France get the lead early and never relinquished it until the end.
Against Germany, it will be interesting to see how Gobert acclimates himself and makes himself usable. The Germans have a strong frontline that fits well with each other alongside Franz Wagner and Schroder&rsquo;s relentless attacking of the rim. Perhaps Gobert will make himself valuable on the defensive side of the floor as France will need all the help they can get on defense with Germany&rsquo;s incredible offense.
<ul>
<li aria-level="1">Germany against Paris, France, and the world</li>
</ul>
Despite being the reigning world champions, pressure will be on against Germany to perform on the biggest stage in front of a hostile crowd in Paris. The French will have the crowd on their side and it could be the difference in a game like this. This would be Germany&rsquo;s first-ever Olympic semifinal appearance in the nation&rsquo;s history, so it will be interesting to see if they can hold off the pressure and perform with the highest stakes. They will need every bit of Franz Wagner, Dennis Schroder, and the rest of the world champion-winning roster to stave off a tough challenge from Victor Wembanyama and France, who are also looking to enter the gold medal match as hosts in these Olympics.&nbsp;

Reigning World champion Germany and hosts France will square off once again but this time in a bigger stage.

Paris 2024 semifinals preview: Hosts France take on World champs Germany

Behind a raucous crowd at the Bercy Arena in Paris, Hosts France played a great game to grab a huge win over Canada, 82-73, and book a spot in the semifinals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.&nbsp;
The French fed off the high intensity and energy inside the Bercy Arena to deny the Canadians, who coming to the game, were in huge favorites. Canada did not lose a single game in pool play despite being in the so-called &lsquo;Group of Death&rsquo;. They were flawless and were looking to claim the hosts as their next victim on their way to pursue a gold medal, however, France had other plans in mind.&nbsp;
To counter Canada&rsquo;s speed and strength with their guards, France and head coach Vincent Collet opted to start Guerschon Yabusele at the 4 alongside French phenom Victor Wembanyama at the 5 instead of Rudy Gobert. This was an effort to have a faster lineup, and it paid dividends for France. Yabusele feasted on a smaller Canadian frontline, leading the team in scoring with 22 points. He pounded the ball inside and was aggressive looking for his shot, providing the extra scoring punch France needed. Matthias Lessort also did the same thing off the bench as he scored 14 points of his own off of similar actions like Yabusele.
Wembanyama struggled to find his offense as he finished just 2/10 from the field good for 10 points, but he provided perhaps the biggest play of the game when he blocked a shot in the 4th quarter as Canada was mounting their comeback. Wembanyama&rsquo;s block effectively sealed the deal for France before Evan Fournier knocked in a deep three to strike the dagger into the Canadians&rsquo; hearts.
NBA superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander once again led Team Canada with 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists however teammate Jamal Murray struggled yet again with just 7 points on 3/13 shooting.&nbsp;
Canada went down early up to as much as 20 points in the first half after a barrage of highlight plays and crowd-hyping moments inside the Bercy Arena. It was as loud as its ever been with the home team playing, and it became the energy that France needed to take the win vs Canada.
The Canadians attempted to make one last push for a comeback in the 4th when RJ Barrett hit a huge three to come within 6 points, 61-55. However, that was the closest the Canadians could go in the 4th as France kept hitting shots to keep Canada away.
Up next for France is a rematch between reigning FIBA World Champions Germany in the semifinals for a slot in the gold medal game. France lost to Germany in the group stage to finish 2nd in the group, so they should be eager to win the game as payback.

Behind a raucous crowd at the Bercy Arena in Paris, Hosts France played a great game to grab a huge win over Canada, 82-73.

Hosts France cruise to a resounding win over Canada

PARIS (AP) &mdash; Adieu France, hello America.
They were hugs of goodbye &mdash; not of joy &mdash; for Victor Wembanyama as he bid farewell to his teammates and the French league, before jetting off for what&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-2023-wembanyama-396be2a8eeb0be8e3323bb509405695c">many predict</a>&nbsp;will be a glittering NBA career.
Wembanyama&rsquo;s performance &mdash; 22 points, seven rebounds and four blocks &mdash; couldn&rsquo;t prevent his Boulogne-Levallois team losing 92-85 to Monaco in a must-win Game 3 in the best-of-five French league championship series on Thursday.
To accommodate escalating interest in seeing the 19-year-old&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401">French prodigy</a>, Game 3 &mdash; and 4 if they had won &mdash; were switched from a 4,000-seat venue to Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros, home of the French Open tennis championship which seats&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669390713434275842" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than 14,000</a>.
Fans sang &ldquo;Merci, Wemby&rdquo; as&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-nba-lottery-draft-french-finale-e8d2b9e7cf97ab22df549a03d1124456">the hugely popular Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;waved and clapped at them.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry for the fans who love to see a show,&rdquo; Wembanyama said on beIN Sports television after the game. &ldquo;Of course I&rsquo;m proud of what I&rsquo;ve managed to do along with my coach (Vincent Collet), in bringing the team to the finals. But I&rsquo;m not satisfied.&rdquo;
Next week, the San Antonio Spurs are expected to make the 7-foot-3 Wembanyama&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-lottery-2023-victor-wembanyama-7ac2a47737c20c0df4543e1626407e47">the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft</a>, where he&rsquo;ll follow in the footsteps of France great Tony Parker and Hall of Famers David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
With Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadiv&eacute; among the crowd &mdash; likely with an eye on&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-mock-draft-wembanyama-c9dfd3d19592e1de44f5957ea2aa8b48">Wembanyama teammate Bilal Coulibaly</a>&nbsp;ahead of the draft &mdash; the Mets opened up big leads but with 50 seconds left the score was tied at 85-85. Jordan Loyd, a former NBA player with the Toronto Raptors, sank two 3-pointers to end Wembanyama&rsquo;s hopes of signing off with a French crown.
Ranadiv&eacute; told beIN Sport that Wembanyama is &ldquo;amazing&rdquo; but that &ldquo;I&rsquo;m also excited about Bilal. Young guy, lot of skills, so French basketball is in great shape.&rdquo;
Wembanyama, who opened the scoring with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669413577068019712" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">a reverse alley-oop dunk</a>, looked sad as he hugged his teammates while Monaco celebrated.
&ldquo;Wemby had a great game, but this team&rsquo;s unbelievable,&rdquo; said Loyd, who finished with 22 points.
Everything had pointed to a special night for Wembanyama and then a Game 4 on Saturday. Wembanyama clenched his fist when his pass inside for Devante Jones made it 24-10, then drew roars when he used his giant frame to block a shot early in the second quarter.
The &ldquo;Wemby, Wemby&rdquo; chants became louder when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669432798598381573" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he hit a 3-pointer</a>&nbsp;to make it 47-37, louder still when&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669431516190101504" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">he dished to Coulibaly</a>&nbsp;for a dunk early in the third quarter.
It was not enough, though, and it was &ldquo;Wemby&rdquo; who put Elie Okobo on the foul line to give Monaco its first lead, 82-81, with just over three minutes left.
Loyd &mdash; not Wembanyama &mdash; ended up with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://twitter.com/LNBofficiel/status/1669449924562305028" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the MVP award</a>&nbsp;and the winners&rsquo; medal on the court where Novak Djokovic made men&rsquo;s Grand Slam history last Sunday with&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/novak-djokovic-grand-slam-titles-french-open-6f822dca855478163696538f37ff534b">his 23rd men&rsquo;s major title</a>.
<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/chicago-bulls-nba-sports-detroit-pistons-paris-ba85137c70a09ac5efcea7f5e8e472a1">Wembanyama&rsquo;s journey to greatness</a>&nbsp;in his sport, however, might only just be starting.

With today's loss to Monaco, Victor Wembanyama will leave his teammates and the French league to prepare for his NBA career.

Wembanyama bids adieu to France with a defeat as NBA Draft nears

The NBA&rsquo;s oldest coach. The NBA&rsquo;s newest superstar.
In an instant, the fortunes of the San Antonio Spurs changed in a big way.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-draft-lottery-nba-b0692a8ee59c2235f2d4f4387266eab7">Victor Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;is on his way to the NBA, and the coaching wins leader in Gregg Popovich will be waiting for him.
The right combination of ping-pong balls &mdash; 14, 5, 8 and 2 were the winning ones &mdash; gave the Spurs victory in the draft lottery Tuesday night, meaning they&rsquo;ll have the No. 1 pick June 22. That means they&rsquo;ve won the Wembanyama sweepstakes, and that four years of losing in a way that had never before happened under Popovich has actually paid off.
Pop and Wemby. A 74-year-old wine connoisseur who is one of the best basketball coaches in the world, and a&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401">19-year-old supertalent</a>&nbsp;who hails from the land where some of the best wines are made.
The NBA has a new dynamic duo.
&ldquo;When you talk about generational talents, it&rsquo;s often times beyond just your ability to make a shot or your ability to jump or your ability to put the ball on the floor,&rdquo; Spurs general manager Brian Wright said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all of the little details that go into being great, becoming great. And as we&rsquo;ve studied Victor, he is very in-depth with everything that he does, whether it&rsquo;s on the court, whether it&rsquo;s training, or things that he&rsquo;s into off the court.&rdquo;
If the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wemby-victor-wembanyama-nba-draft-f5be654cce544c675559bad526220a9e">7-foot-3 Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;brings his current warm-up routine to the NBA, it&rsquo;ll be like none other. He&rsquo;s barefoot on the court for probably a good 15 or 20 minutes, stretching and doing various other things to get his feet ready. There&rsquo;s also some very specific ballhandling and passing things that he likes to do. It&rsquo;s not just a few shots, few dunks, few 3-pointers and go play. There&rsquo;s a plan and a reason for everything.
Popovich will love that. He knows Wembanyama has been taught the right way; the kid spent last year playing for Spurs icon Tony Parker&rsquo;s franchise in France, and is spending this season getting coached by Vincent Collet. That&rsquo;s someone Popovich coached against with the U.S. at the 2019 World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics. Popovich raves about Collet, not hiding his respect level for him at all.
They&rsquo;ll talk before long about Wembanyama. That&rsquo;s certain. Pop will immerse himself into knowing everything that makes the kid tick, just so he knows how he&rsquo;ll react to every situation he&rsquo;ll face with the Spurs next season and beyond.
&ldquo;His ability to connect and spend time and bounce between the really detailed development of basketball players and the bigger picture of developing people is just so impressive,&rdquo; Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt said. &ldquo;I think no matter what Pop does, he&rsquo;s going to find a way to do that because that&rsquo;s in his heart. And I&rsquo;m excited to see whatever the next phase is in that journey.&rdquo;
This is an embarrassment of lottery riches for the Spurs. Let&rsquo;s be clear: They&rsquo;re not giving this back. But winning the lottery in 1987 and landing David Robinson was big, then winning the lottery again in 1997 and landing Tim Duncan was bigger, and now comes Wembanyama.
It&rsquo;s big. How big, well, that story will get told in the coming years.
&ldquo;Now it becomes real,&rdquo; former NBA player Ian Mahinmi &mdash; one of more than 40 international players that Popovich has had during his tenure in San Antonio &mdash; said during the telecast of Wembanyama&rsquo;s French league game Tuesday. &ldquo;Now everything becomes real.&rdquo;
Popovich talked before the Spurs&rsquo; last game of the season about how, during his career, he has been the &ldquo;beneficiary of serendipity to a max degree.&rdquo;
He&rsquo;s not wrong. And more good fortune has come to San Antonio. The Spurs haven&rsquo;t won a playoff series since 2017 and went a combined 121-186 over the last four seasons.&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/wembanyama-nba-draft-spurs-ee1a9bd2232173666d3302bb491c7c5c">They basically lost more games</a>&nbsp;in the last four years than they did in the previous eight years combined.
The losing ends now, if Wembanyama has anything to say about it. He&rsquo;s coming to the NBA with eyes on becoming a superstar, an icon, a champion. And he&rsquo;s about to become the star of the latest &mdash; and perhaps final &mdash; phase of Popovich&rsquo;s career.
&ldquo;Today was a good day,&rdquo; Wembanyama tweeted after the lottery.
Popovich doesn&rsquo;t tweet, but he and everyone else in San Antonio surely felt the same way. After 60 losses this season, they got the win they wanted most.

The NBA’s oldest coach and newest phenom could become the league's newest dynamic duo.

Victor Wembanyama, Gregg Popovich will be NBA’s newest dynamic duo

CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama is now set to begin his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs, after they won the NBA draft lottery and the No. 1 overall pick on Tuesday night.
The Spurs were one of three teams with the best odds &mdash; 14% &mdash; to land the No. 1 pick, which they&rsquo;ll almost certainly use on Wembanyama. The 7-foot-3 French 19-year-old is one of the most highly touted prospects in NBA history and will be expected to make an immediate impact on the league.
And he had a message for San Antonio.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying to win a ring ASAP,&rdquo; Wembanyama told ESPN after the lottery results. &ldquo;So be ready.&rdquo;
It&rsquo;s the third time the Spurs have won the lottery, and on both previous occasions they made picks that paid off for decades. They chose David Robinson in 1987, Tim Duncan in 1997, and those selections were a major part of how the Spurs became a team that won five NBA titles under coach Gregg Popovich.
&ldquo;Our future was already bright,&rdquo; Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt said. &ldquo;Now, it&rsquo;s going to be through the moon.&rdquo;
General manager Brian Wright called it &ldquo;an incredible day&rdquo; for the franchise and the fans.
Charlotte will pick second, Portland moved up to third, and Houston fell to fourth.
&ldquo;This draft is a deep, talented one,&rdquo; Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said. &ldquo;We know picks one through six there&rsquo;s always gems to be found, but to move up into the top three is really exciting.&rdquo;
As for getting the No. 1 pick in a year like this?
&ldquo;People talk about generational talents and you only think on-court skill, but it&rsquo;s bigger than that,&rdquo; Wright said. &ldquo;Peter talked about his ability to be a great teammate, his ability to think the game, unique challenges. You see him doing things that you wouldn&rsquo;t have even guessed someone could do &mdash; his approach, his professionalism. I think when you use the word generational talent, it extends beyond just your ability to put the ball in the basket. And he&rsquo;s unique in so many ways.&rdquo;
The Spurs were 22-60 this season, tied for the second-worst record in the NBA. Popovich and the Spurs have had incredible success with international players in the past &mdash; most notably, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, who owns the French team that Wembanyama played for last season.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s an incredible young man,&rdquo; NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN as part of its draft lottery broadcast. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s 19 years old and I didn&rsquo;t take out a yardstick or meter stick or whatever they use in France, but he seemed all of 7-4 to me. &hellip; He clearly appears to be a generational talent.&rdquo;
Wembanyama finished his regular season with Boulogne-Levallois of France&rsquo;s top pro league earlier Tuesday, his 22-point effort good enough for him to clinch the league&rsquo;s scoring title. It was shortly past 2 a.m. Wednesday in Paris when the lottery results were revealed, and Wembanyama was gathered with family and friends for a celebration.
&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t really describe it,&rdquo; Wembanyama said in his interview with ESPN, adding &ldquo;it&rsquo;s a really special moment.&rdquo;
Finally, he knows where his NBA journey will begin. His agents did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.
&ldquo;I think the team that has the first choice isn&rsquo;t going to get it wrong,&rdquo; said Vincent Collet, Wembanyama&rsquo;s coach in France and also the coach of the French national team &mdash; which Wembanyama is expected to play for this summer at the World Cup and next summer at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Detroit had the worst record in the NBA and was one of the three teams with the best odds of winning. The Pistons wound up falling all the way to fifth, the worst of their possible outcomes.
The rest of the lottery order: Orlando will pick sixth, Indiana seventh, Washington eighth, Utah ninth, Dallas 10th, Orlando (from Chicago as part of an earlier trade) in 11th, Oklahoma City 12th, Toronto 13th, and New Orleans 14th.
Wembanyama is wrapping up his third professional season in France and has been the consensus top pick for months. He has the height of a center, the shooting touch of a wing and the passing ability of a point guard.
He wasn&rsquo;t at the lottery because of his game schedule in France. But many of the other top prospects &mdash; Scoot Henderson of the G League Ignite, Brandon Miller of Alabama, twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson of the Overtime Elite program &mdash; were in the room to watch the lottery results get unveiled and get a little better idea of where they may be heading to start their NBA careers.

Victor Wembanyama is now set to begin his NBA career with the San Antonio Spurs, after they won the NBA draft lottery on Tuesday.

Spurs win NBA Draft Lottery and right to draft Victor Wembanyama

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice scored 20 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and overtime, and No. 6 Texas held off Oklahoma 85-83 on Saturday.
Rice&rsquo;s fourth 3-pointer of the game gave Texas an 84-77 lead with 2:26 left in overtime.
Oklahoma, however, had a chance to tie or win when Texas&rsquo; Tyrese Hunter missed one of two free throws with 6.8 seconds left. But Sam Godwin missed a shot from near the rim, and Texas extended its winning streak against Oklahoma to five games.
Marcus Carr added 17 points for Texas (21-6, 10-4 Big 12), and Timmy Allen had 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Grant Sherfield led Oklahoma (13-14, 3-11) with 18 points, including a 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime. Milos Uzan scored 15 for the Sooners.
NO. 1 ALABAMA 108, GEORGIA 59
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Brandon Miller scored 21 points, Nick Pringle had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Mark Sears made five 3-pointers in the first half to lead Alabama.
The Crimson Tide (23-4, 13-1 Southeastern Conference) rebounded from their first SEC loss by racing to a 54-25 halftime lead and a season scoring high. Alabama was coming off a 68-59 loss at No. 10 Tennessee on Wednesday night after rising to No. 1 for only the second time in program history and first in 20 years.&nbsp;
ustin Hill led Georgia (16-11, 6-8) with 17 points. Terry Roberts scored 11 and Braelen Bridges 10.
NO. 4 UCLA 78, CALIFORNIA 43
LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 20 points and UCLA routed last-place California to improve to 15-0 at Pauley Pavilion this season and extend the nation&rsquo;s longest home winning streak to 23 games.
Amari Bailey added 16 points and nine rebounds for the first-place Bruins (23-4, 14-2 Pac-12), who clinched a first-round bye in next month&rsquo;s Pac-12 Tournament with their 11th win in a row over last-place Cal.
Kuany Kuany scored 14 points to lead the Golden Bears (3-24, 2-14), who dropped their 11th in a row. They fell to 0-3 against top-5 teams this season, having also lost a pair against No. 8 Arizona.
NO. 5 KANSAS 87, NO. 9 BAYLOR 71
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; DaJuan Harris scored all 14 of his points in the second half as Kansas stormed back from a double-digit halftime deficit.
The Jayhawks (22-5, 10-4 Big 12) outscored the Bears 55-26 in the second half. Jalen Wilson led Kansas with 21 points and 13 rebounds. KJ Adams added 17 points and Gradey Dick had 16.
The Jayhawks are tied with Texas for the top spot in the Big 12 Conference.
Baylor (20-7, 9-5) got nearly all of its scoring from its three-guard combo of Adam Flagler (22 points) Keyonte George (20 points) and LJ Cryer (15 points).
NO. 7 VIRGINIA 57, NOTRE DAME 55
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark scored 15 points, including a pair of critical free throws with 22.6 seconds left, and became Virginia&rsquo;s career assist leader in the narrow win over Notre Dame.
With Notre Dame closing to 55-54, Clark converted both ends of a one-and-one. Trey Wertz made the front end of a one-and-one with 3.9 seconds left for the Fighting Irish, but missed the second after a timeout. The ball was tipped out to Dane Goodwin for a potential game-winning 3-pointer, but his shot bounced off the rim.
Armaan Franklin added 12 points and Reece Beekman had 11 for Virginia (21-4, 13-3 Atlantic Coast Conference). Nate Laszewski led Notre Dame (10-17, 2-14) with 18 points and Goodwin had 12.
NO. 8 ARIZONA 78, COLORADO 68
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Oumar Ballo had 18 points and 16 rebounds, Cedric Henderson Jr. added 15 points and Arizona dominated inside to beat Colorado.
The Wildcats (24-4, 13-4 Pac-12) opened with a rash of turnovers, falling into an early 12-point hole. Arizona righted itself quickly with a big run and slogged through a slowed-down second half by shutting down the Buffaloes.
Tristan da Silva had 18 points the Buffaloes (15-13, 7-10), who shot 38%.
KENTUCKY 66, NO. 10 TENNESSEE 54
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Cason Wallace and Oscar Tshiebwe each scored 16 points and Kentucky rushed to a big lead and beat Tennessee.
The Volunteers (20-7, 9-5 SEC) trailed by 20 points at halftime and lost in their first game since toppling No. 1 Alabama.
The Wildcats (18-9, 9-5) earned their first regular-season sweep of Tennessee since the 2011-12 season. Kentucky defeated the Volunteers 63-56 on Jan. 14 in Knoxville.
Wallace had totaled nine points in the Wildcats&rsquo; previous two games. Chris Livingston added 12 points and Jacob Toppin had 11.
NO. 12 KANSAS STATE 61, NO. 19 IOWA STATE 55
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Markquis Nowell hit a 3-pointer from near midcourt with 2:42 remaining to help Kansas State over Iowa State.
Nowell finished with 20 points. Keyontae Johnson had 15 points for the Wildcats (20-7, 8-6 Big 12).
Aljaž Kunc led Iowa State (17-9, 8-6) with 15 points. Without their 3-point leader Caleb Grill in the lineup, the Cyclones worked inside the paint. They had 24 points inside and relied on a balanced scoring line led by Kunc.
NO. 13 GONZAGA 97, PEPPERDINE 88
MALIBU, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 22 of his 34 points in the second half and Julian Strawther added 28 points to help Gonzaga extend its winning streak over the Waves to 45 games.
The Bulldogs (23-5, 12-2 West Coast Conference), who haven&rsquo;t lost to Pepperdine (9-10, 2-12) since Jan. 18, 2002 and have won 20 straight on the road against the Waves.
Timme moved past Bill Cartwright, who scored 2,116 points for San Francisco (1975-79), into eighth on the West Coast Conference&rsquo;s career scoring list with 2,117.
Houston Mallette led the Waves with 22 points. Jevon Porter and Maxwell Lewis added 20 points apiece.
NO. 14 INDIANA 71, ILLINOIS 68
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Trayce Jackson-Davis finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds, Jalen Hood Schifino made two free throws with 30.7 seconds left, and Indiana rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to beat Illinois.
Hood-Schifino had 13 points for the Hoosiers (19-8, 10-6 Big Ten), who have won nine of 11 overall and 15 straight on their homecourt.
Matthew Mayer scored 24 to lead the Fighting Illini (17-9, 8-7), who were without injured leading scorer Terrence Shannon.
NO. 15 MIAMI 96, WAKE FOREST 87
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Isaiah Wong scored 27 points and Nijel Pack finished with 24 in Miami&rsquo;s win over Wake Forest.
Norchard Omier had 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting while Jordan Miller added 14 points for the Hurricanes (22-5, 13-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their sixth straight and improved to 15-0 at home.
Tyree Appleby scored 15 points and Damari Monsanto and Cameron Hildreth had 14 each for the Demon Deacons (17-10, 9-7). Andrew Carr and Mathew Marsh finished with 12 points each.
NO. 16 XAVIER 82, DEPAUL 68
CINCINNATI (AP) &mdash; Jack Nunge had 18 points and 10 rebounds as Xavier bounced back from a pair of narrow losses to beat DePaul.
The Musketeers (20-7, 12-4 Big East) reached the 20-win mark for the 34th time in school history, 32 of which have come since the 1982-83 season. It was the 17th career double-double for Nunge, eighth this season. Adam Kunkel scored 16 points and tied a career-high with eight assists for Xavier.
Umoja Gibson had 17 points and De&rsquo;Sean Nelson 16 for DePaul (9-18, 3-13), which lost its eighth in a row.
NO. 17 ST. MARY&rsquo;S 71, BYU 65
MORAGA, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Logan Johnson scored 27 points and Aidan Mahaney delivered once again in the second half to lead Saint Mary&rsquo;s to its 15th win in 16 games.
Mahaney scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and Mitchell Saxen added 13. The Gaels (24-5, 13-1 West Coast Conference) won their 16th straight conference home game to maintain a one-game lead over Gonzaga in the standings.
Fousseyni Traore scored 16 points to lead the Cougars (16-14, 6-9). BYU has lost four straight and was swept in the season series by the Gaels.
NO. 18 CREIGHTON 77, ST. JOHN&rsquo;S 67
NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Arthur Kaluma hit three straight 3-pointers down the stretch and Creighton overcame a second-half scoring drought to pull away from St. John&rsquo;s.
Creighton (18-9, 12-4) remained in a three-way tie for second place in the Big East after Providence and Xavier won earlier in the day. Marquette holds a one-game lead in the conference standings.
Ryan Nembhard scored 16 points for the Bluejays. Kaluma finished with 13 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 12 as Creighton won for the ninth time in 10 games.
Joel Soriano led St. John&rsquo;s with 15 points and eight rebounds. David Jones added 14 points off the bench but the Red Storm (16-12, 6-11) were unable to get their third straight win.
NO. 20 UCONN 64, SETON HALL 55
STORRS, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points and UConn used a big second-half run to beat Seton Hall.
Andre Jackson had a career high 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for UConn (20-7, 9-7 Big East).
Al-Amir Dawes and Tyrese Samuel each had 16 points for Seton Hall (16-12, 9-8), which trailed by 16 points with six minutes to play before a late run that fell short.
NO. 22 TCU 100, OKLAHOMA STATE 75
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) &mdash; Mike Miles Jr. had 15 points in his first game in three weeks, five other TCU players also scored in double figures, and the Horned Frogs snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Oklahoma State.
Emanuel Miller had 18 points to lead TCU (18-9, 7-7 Big 12), which shot a staggering season-high 68.4% (39 of 57) from the field. Damion Baugh had 16 points with 11 assists. Shahada Wells had 15 points, Chuck O&rsquo;Bannon 12 and Micah Peavy 10.
Bryce Thompson had 18 points and John-Michael White 15 for the Cowboys (16-11, 7-7).
NO. 24 PROVIDENCE 85, VILLANOVA 72
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) &mdash; Ed Croswell scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Providence earned its 20th victory of the season.
Bryce Hopkins added 19 points and 12 rebounds. Noah Locked finished with 16 points. Croswell connected on two late free throws to notch the 1,000th point of his career.
The Friars (20-7, 12-4 Big East) have recorded 20 or more wins in seven of coach Ed Cooley&rsquo;s 12 seasons. They improved to 15-0 at home, including 8-0 in conference play.
Eric Dixon had 18 points and eight rebounds and Justin Moore added 17 points for the Wildcats (13-14, 7-9)&nbsp;

A recap of Saturday's action in men's college basketball includes a full slate of top-25 teams in heavy competition.

No. 6 Texas needs OT at home to hold off Oklahoma 85-83

PARIS (AP) &mdash; Top&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lebron-victor-wembanyama-is-a-generational-talent-and-an-alien" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBA draft prospect Victor Wembanyama</a>&nbsp;will join France&rsquo;s national team next month for a pair of World Cup qualifying games.
The French federation made the announcement on Friday. The 7-foot-3 Wembanyama is among 12 players selected for a road game at Lithuania on Nov. 11 and a home contest against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Nov. 14.
If he plays, it would mark Wembanyama&rsquo;s debut with the French senior national team. He couldn&rsquo;t play in EuroBasket this summer because of injury recovery; France wound up falling to Spain in the gold-medal game of that event.
France is trying to wrap up a berth in the 2023 World Cup, to be played in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. France is currently 6-2 in World Cup qualifying, well on its way to becoming one of the 12 teams from Europe that will clinch a spot in the 32-team tournament.
The French national team&rsquo;s coach is Vincent Collet, who also coaches Wembanyama with the pro club Metropolitans 92.
Metropolitans split a pair of games near Las Vegas this week against the G League Ignite, with Wembanyama &mdash; the consensus frontrunner to be the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft &mdash; averaging 36.5 points in those matchups.
The 18-year-old Wembanyama has played for France&rsquo;s national programs before, including the 2019 FIBA U16 European Championship and the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup &mdash; falling to the U.S. 83-81 in the gold-medal game of that event.

Top NBA draft prospect Victor Wembanyama will join France’s national team next month for a pair of World Cup qualifying games.

France picks Victor Wembanyama for World Cup qualifying games

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama blocked a shot Thursday afternoon, ran to the other end of the court, went airborne from just inside the foul line, corralled an alley-oop pass with one hand and slammed home a dunk.
The entire sequence lasted eight seconds.
It may have been the signature moment &mdash; and there were a lot of candidates &mdash; from Wembanyama&rsquo;s two-game trip to the U.S., which ended Thursday with the French phenom&rsquo;s Metropolitans 92 team rallying from 16 points down to top the G League Ignite 112-106. He led the way, of course, with 36 points and 11 rebounds.
&ldquo;As a first impression of the American game, that was really great," Wembanyama said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Victor Wembanyama followed up his 37-point game on Tuesday with an equally impressive 36-point double-double in a win! 🔥 <a href="https://twitter.com/vicw_32?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@vicw_32</a>: 36 PTS | 11 REB | 4 AST | 4 BLK <a href="https://t.co/M5dy1WpUPT">pic.twitter.com/M5dy1WpUPT</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1578143067370127362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2022</a></blockquote>

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So was he.
His final numbers from two exhibitions: 73 points on 22-for-44 shooting, nine 3-pointers, 15 rebounds and nine blocked shots. He flies back to France on Saturday, and the next time he plays in the U.S. there likely will be an NBA logo on his jersey, presumably after he becomes the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
&ldquo;It's very, very special for France," Metropolitans 92 coach Vincent Collet said. &ldquo;Not only for France. He has huge potential. He's a huge talent."
The reviews are in from this two-game Vegas residency for <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401">Wembanyama, who stands 7-foot-3</a> in bare feet, and they were of the raving variety. The best of the bunch may have come from Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, who suggested that calling Wembanyama a unicorn might not fully indicate how unique he is.
Instead, James went with an out-of-this-world comparison.
&ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s been a unicorn over the last few years, but he&rsquo;s more like an alien,&rdquo; James said. &ldquo;No one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is but as fluid and as graceful as he is out on the floor ... He&rsquo;s, for sure, a generational talent.&rdquo;
Added Golden State guard Stephen Curry: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s like the (NBA) 2K create-a-player, every point guard that wants to be 7-foot. Cheat-code type vibes, man. He&rsquo;s a solid talent. It's great to watch.&rdquo;
Sure enough, when Wembanyama&rsquo;s around, a viral moment can happen at any time. It might be a dunk. It might be a block. It might be a fadeaway 3-pointer from the corner while his momentum has him drifting toward the baseline. It might be a 28-foot 3-pointer from the wing. It might be him kicking a ball into a monitor and narrowly missing fellow French center Rudy Gobert.
Yes, all those things happened.
The scene: Gobert and fellow Minnesota Timberwolves standout D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, in town to play the Lakers in a preseason game later Thursday, decided to postpone their afternoon nap &mdash; a staple of the NBA gameday routine &mdash; and make the 20-minute ride from Las Vegas to watch the game, arriving at halftime.
Gobert made a quick appearance on the game&rsquo;s televised broadcast. Wembanyama, standing nearby, stuck one of his massive feet into the path of a pass by Ignite center Eric Mika. The ball ricocheted into the monitor near Gobert&rsquo;s seat, knocking it over.
Gobert laughed. Wembanyama raised his hand to apologize.
&ldquo;Hey, he played soccer too,&rdquo; Gobert said.
Gobert raves about Wembanyama, who almost certainly will be the first top-five draft pick from France. And he doesn&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any real comparison: Gobert said Wembanyama&rsquo;s defensive instincts remind him of himself, while his ballhandling and shooting remind him of Kevin Durant.
&ldquo;What strikes me the most about him is his maturity," Gobert said. &ldquo;Obviously, he's a very unique talent and he has a very unique physique. But his maturity and his confidence ... he's very unique."
Thursday&rsquo;s game had a bit of a scare, and the other top NBA draft headliner in this showcase got the worst of that moment.
Scoot Henderson, the guard whose 28 points led the Ignite to a 122-115 victory on Tuesday night in the exhibition opener, left Thursday&rsquo;s game after less than five minutes. The reason: He banged knees with Wembanyama.
Henderson switched onto Wembanyama, who was dribbling on the wing. Wembanyama made a move, collided into Henderson and tumbled to the court, looking initially like he got the worst of that exchange. But Henderson, who was called for a foul on the play, wound up limping off for evaluation and the Ignite quickly said he wouldn&rsquo;t be returning.
&ldquo;Scoot's fine," G League coach Jason Hart said. &ldquo;It was precautionary."
There are 31 games left on Metropolitans&rsquo; 34-game schedule in the French league, and the plan &mdash; as of now &mdash; is for Wembanyama to finish his season, which is slated to go through mid-May. The NBA Draft is June 22.
Bouna Ndiaye, one of Wembanyama&rsquo;s agents, said some NBA teams might not understand why he&rsquo;s playing. The reason, he says, is because nobody can get Wembanyama out of the gym.
&ldquo;He wants to live on the court,&rdquo; Ndiaye said.
What these two games showed, in many ways, was just that the tapes of Wembanyama that have been coming out of Europe over the last few years weren't lying. He needs to get stronger. There&rsquo;s much he can still polish. He is, by all accounts, exceptional already.
&ldquo;Just before we came in last Saturday, we had a meeting with our doctor and we are going to prepare to plan the next two months to increase what he is doing, besides the court, to strengthen the body,&rdquo; Collet said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re always careful also with how much time he is practicing, not to go too far. ... We plan so that we limit the risk.&rdquo;
When Thursday was over, when the comeback was complete, Wembanyama briefly lifted his arms skyward in celebration, then shook a lot of hands, partook in a lot of hugs and posed for a lot of pictures.
With that, the draft hype continued on.
&ldquo;I'm still excited and so happy about it," Wembanyama said. &ldquo;I know I'm so lucky to have this chance."
___
AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed.

Wembanyama's final numbers from two exhibitions: 73 points on 22-for-44 shooting, 9 three-pointers, 15 rebounds and 9 blocked shots.

Victor Wembanyama's 2-game Las Vegas exhibition stay ends with win

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama didn&rsquo;t wait long to make an impression.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The 7-foot-4 French phenomenon</a> from the club Metropolitans 92 blocked shots at the rim and on the perimeter, got rebounds, ran the floor, set screens, scored on a nifty spin move, showed off his ability to dribble, dove for a loose ball and even played point guard on one possession.
Oh, and all that was in the first two minutes. Talk about setting the tone.
The 200 scouts and NBA executives who came to see a show didn&rsquo;t have to pay for their tickets Tuesday night, but if they had, they wouldn&rsquo;t have been short-changed at any price. Wembanyama showed off all the skills that have him widely presumed to be the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
His final numbers: 37 points, 11-for-20 shooting, 7 three-pointers, 5 blocked shots, 4 rebounds.
The final score, as if it mattered: G League Ignite 120, Metropolitans 115, with Scoot Henderson &mdash; the consensus No. 2 pick, as of now anyway &mdash; finishing with 28 points and 9 assists for the Ignite.
The teams will play again Thursday afternoon; after that, the next time Wembanyama plays a game of any significance on U.S. soil will likely be at NBA Summer League next July.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
WHAT A DUEL Scoot Henderson &amp; Victor Wembanyama PUT ON A SHOW TONIGHT! <a href="https://t.co/jOApxyIJoD">pic.twitter.com/jOApxyIJoD</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1577516849826242562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Much of the Wembanyama repertoire was on full display, and it was as good as advertised. He made three-pointers. Step-back jumpers. Did what seemed to be mildly reminiscent of the Michael Jordan shrug from the 1992 NBA Finals after one of those shots fell. Played through what appeared to be a bit of a twisted ankle, making a fadeaway three while doing so. He even argued foul calls like a seasoned NBA veteran and may have had a legitimate case on a couple occasions.
There are many ways for the 18-year-old to get better. But it&rsquo;s clear: He&rsquo;s ready for the NBA, ready for the scrutiny that will come going into the draft, the scrutiny that will come if he is indeed the No. 1 pick.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s really a talented player,&rdquo; Ignite coach Jason Hart said.
Even the stuff that didn&rsquo;t show up next to Wembanyama&rsquo;s name in the box score was eye-popping at times. Case in point: a play midway through the second quarter when he set a pick near midcourt, rolled, caught a pass a couple inches inside the three-point line, took one dribble and went airborne &mdash; because by then, he was already in the middle of the lane. He tried to elevate over multiple Ignite players, took a shot, got fouled, shrugged off the contact and dunked the rebound.
It didn&rsquo;t count, but still had some sitting courtside reacting in disbelief.
There are always shows in Vegas, but Cirque du Soleil wasn&rsquo;t the French brand capturing the basketball world&rsquo;s attention on Tuesday night.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Back-to-back Splash 💦 Victor Wembanyama is up to 17 PTS 🔥 Watch Now on the NBA App and on ESPN 2 📲 <a href="https://t.co/WIy2EVFAUt">https://t.co/WIy2EVFAUt</a> <a href="https://t.co/V3d1hfHCeJ">pic.twitter.com/V3d1hfHCeJ</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1577502513657323520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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San Antonio executive R.C. Buford and Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti were chatting pregame. Chris Paul and Devin Booker, in town with the Phoenix Suns to play the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, showed up to watch with seats near the Metropolitans bench. DeMarcus Cousins grabbed a seat near the Ignite bench. Chelsea Gray and A&rsquo;ja Wilson of the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces &mdash; coming off a FIBA World Cup gold medal won a few days ago as well &mdash; watched from one of the baselines. The WNBA trophy even made an appearance.
And this wasn't just The Victor Show, either. Henderson believes he should be the No. 1 pick and had more than his share of moments. He got around Wembanyama's incredible 8-foot wingspan a couple times for layups, got him in the air to set up assists to Ignite teammates a couple more times, made a step-back three over him as well.
He also tried what would have been a dunk with 3:31 left. Wembanyama swatted it away with ease. Henderson also tried a 3 with 1:31 left; Wembanyama sent that into the seats.
But Henderson more than lived up to his end of the bargain in this made-for-TV showdown.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Scoot Henderson hit the brakes! Get to the NBA App Now: <a href="https://t.co/WIy2EVoxSt">https://t.co/WIy2EVoxSt</a> <a href="https://t.co/BvffwiVWSo">pic.twitter.com/BvffwiVWSo</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1577504502282059776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This game meant a lot to Scoot,&rdquo; said Ignite forward Shareef O&rsquo;Neal, the son of Hall of Famer Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my No. 1 pick.&rdquo;
Said Henderson: &ldquo;I feel like I impacted the game."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Henderson showed some fire. He gave the Metropolitans&rsquo; bench a long look when time was called in the second quarter and the Ignite were starting to build their lead. Wembanyama had a little edge to him as well; he made a three-pointer from near the Ignite bench early in the second half, then turned and gave those seated there a look, then converted a four-point play on his next possession.
Nicolas Batum, who played for Metropolitans 92 coach Vincent Collet at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021 and the 2019 Basketball World Cup in China, tweeted this during the second half: &ldquo;One thing for sure is that the first 2 picks are LOCKED for the next NBA draft.&rdquo;
Much can change between now and June. But Batum's prediction seems pretty safe.
A Victor vs. Scoot show was what the NBA wanted. It delivered.

A Victor Wembanyama vs. Scoot Henderson showdown was what the NBA wanted, and both stars delivered.

Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson showed repertoire as NBA watched

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson have been linked constantly over the last couple years, with just about every prognosticator anointing them as the top two picks in the 2023 NBA draft.
Thing is, they don&rsquo;t know each other.
That&rsquo;s about to change. Wembanyama &mdash; he&rsquo;s listed at 7-foot-2, some say he&rsquo;s 7-foot-4 &mdash; and the Paris-based club Metropolitans 92 are in Las Vegas to take on Henderson and the G League Ignite in a pair of exhibitions, the first on Tuesday and the second on Thursday.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re playing against an NBA team, with NBA rules, on an NBA court,&rdquo; Wembanyama said Monday. &ldquo;This is really going to be a first for me. I&rsquo;m curious to know how it&rsquo;s going to go. I know it&rsquo;s going to go well, but I&rsquo;m still curious.&rdquo;
Victor vs. Scoot. Scoot vs. Victor. They&rsquo;re not playing 1-on-1, but they are the clear headliners and the reasons why these first-of-their-kind games were put together.
Wembanyama is listed as a center but plays all over the floor with guard skills in a big-man frame; Henderson is a point guard who has been getting tons of attention for years.
&ldquo;Out of all the prospects I&rsquo;ve heard about in our class, I think he&rsquo;s my favorite one,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s the most reliable that I&rsquo;ve seen. He&rsquo;s really a great player. If I was never born, I think he would deserve the first spot.&rdquo;
Henderson &mdash; a five-star recruit from Georgia who signed with the Ignite last year and played in 10 games &mdash; sees these two games as an opportunity, downplaying the 1-on-1 storyline.
&ldquo;People always try to compare and contrast whoever. I don&rsquo;t look at it like that,&rdquo; Henderson said. &ldquo;I look at it as two good ballplayers.&rdquo;
The Ignite program exists to develop young prospects in preparation for the NBA Draft, mixing them with veteran talent to help guide them along the way. It has featured three eventual top-10 picks &mdash; Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga last year, Dyson Daniels this year &mdash; in its first two seasons.
Henderson is a huge draw for the Ignite this year. The Ignite also have Shareef O&rsquo;Neal, the son of Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal. But much of what the Ignite would ordinarily be doing right now would be barely noticed nationally; hence, the games against Wembanyama were put together.
The Los Angeles Lakers are playing in Las Vegas this week, a pair of preseason matchups against Phoenix and Minnesota. Wembanyama is going to those as a fan; he'll have a slightly different view of NBA games next season.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of those type of players, honestly, where you say like there&rsquo;ll never be like another Shaq or there&rsquo;ll never be another that,&rdquo; Ignite coach Jason Hart said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s that. You&rsquo;ll never see another one of those. The scouting report on him is tough. ... I&rsquo;m honored that I&rsquo;m getting to play him at 18, because at 24, he&rsquo;s going to be something different.&rdquo;
Wembanyama has been a pro for three seasons already, spending last season with ASVEL in France &mdash; a club owned by San Antonio Spurs legend Tony Parker. He made the decision this year to join Metropolitans in part to be coached by Vincent Collet, who also coaches the French national team.
Collet is welcoming the chance.
&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s the best prospect we&rsquo;ve ever had in our league,&rdquo; Collet said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s amazing, not only by his size, but incredible skills. Despite that, he still needs to learn the game. He&rsquo;s very young. ... We will try to give him this experience. That&rsquo;s the deal we have together, him and me. We want to give him the experience before he gets to the league. It&rsquo;s most important to get him ready for what will follow next year.&rdquo;

Victor vs. Scoot. Scoot vs. Victor. They’re not playing 1-on-1, but they are the clear headliners on Tuesday night.

Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson set to clash in top prospect battle

LAS VEGAS (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama&rsquo;s favorite players in the NBA right now are Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo. That makes sense, given that they&rsquo;re both taller than just about everyone else in the league and have all-world all-around games.
He might see some similarities there.
But comparisons to them, or anyone else, are not what Wembanyama is seeking. When the 7-foot-2 French teen comes to the NBA next season &mdash; by most accounts, he would be the No. 1 pick if the draft was held today &mdash; he isn&rsquo;t interested in trying to become the next Durant, or Antetokounmpo, or Dirk Nowitzki.
The path he wants to take, he said in an interview with The Associated Press, will be all his own.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m gonna tell you something that&rsquo;s been going on in my life, like for my whole life, since I&rsquo;ve been a kid, even before I played basketball,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve always tried to do (something) different. I&rsquo;m not even talking about sports, whatever. Any field, I&rsquo;m always trying to be original, something original, something one of one, something that&rsquo;s never been done before. And this is really how it worked in my life. I don&rsquo;t know where it comes from. I think I was born with it. I&rsquo;ve always been trying to be original. Unique, that&rsquo;s the word.&rdquo;
Unique, indeed, is the word.
&ldquo;My goal,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;is to be like something you&rsquo;ve never seen.&rdquo;
He might already be that.
He is why Metropolitans 92, a team from the top league in France, flew 5,500 miles this week <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-paris-las-vegas-draft-7cd6f8dbdda1b6aac3b2005464d8c3a9">to play a pair of exhibition games against the G League Ignite and another top draft prospect in Ignite guard Scoot Henderson.</a> The Ignite haven&rsquo;t started their season yet. The Metropolitans have already played three games, and are interrupting their regular season to play these exhibitions on Tuesday and Thursday in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nevada largely to help introduce Wembanyama to the U.S. basketball audience.
Tuesday night will, quite simply, be an event. About 200 scouts are credentialed; every NBA team will be in attendance, most sending multiple people to watch. Some clubs had executives watching practice Monday afternoon. There are journalists who flew in from France, Brazil and Canada for these games that don&rsquo;t count toward anyone&rsquo;s standings. The Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns play a preseason game in Las Vegas on Wednesday night; some players from those clubs are expected to come get a look at Wembanyama, as are some members of the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good for the game,&rdquo; Ignite coach Jason Hart said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s good for our program as well as theirs. I&rsquo;m so excited.&rdquo;
Wembanyama is just a big deal. Clearly. And literally.
They list him at 7-foot-2, some say he&rsquo;s 7-foot-4, his wingspan is nearly 8 feet and he can nearly grab the rim &mdash; 10 feet in the air &mdash; without even jumping. He shoots 3-pointers with ease, almost always unbothered by the efforts of defenders whose flailing arms come nowhere near the ball or his field of vision. He can run the floor. He handles the ball. Passes the ball. Creative. Athletic, blessed with the genes passed along from Felix Wembanyama and Elodie de Fautereau; his dad was a track star, his mom was a basketball standout.
Few, if any, prospects since LeBron James in 2003 have had this big of a can&rsquo;t-miss label on their shoulders as an 18-year-old.
&ldquo;I was built for this, I guess,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;All of what happens to me, I expected for myself. So it&rsquo;s just a checklist of expectations. I&rsquo;m not surprised by what&rsquo;s happening to me. And yeah, this is happening, this is how I can manage it and I think I managed it well.&rdquo;
He already speaks almost-perfect English, which will come in handy considering next June, then at the age of 19-1/2, he&rsquo;ll be getting selected by a team and moving to the U.S. (or Canada, if Toronto secures the pick that will land Wembanyama). It&rsquo;s hard for him to fathom that he has just a few months left living in his native France.
But he&rsquo;s also unbothered by what&rsquo;s happening, and what&rsquo;s coming. He speaks confidently, plays even more confidently, and truly seems to enjoy all the attention that comes with being one of the tallest human beings on the planet. That confidence, however, doesn&rsquo;t come with arrogance. He knows he&rsquo;s good. He wants to get better.
That&rsquo;s where Metropolitans 92 coach Vincent Collet comes in. The coach of France&rsquo;s national team is tasked with taking Wembanyama and making sure he&rsquo;s as NBA-ready as possible by next summer.
&ldquo;Many people around him are always telling him &lsquo;It&rsquo;s great, what you do is fantastic.&rsquo; And me, I am the coach, so I am the one that most sometimes say &lsquo;This is not good, this you could do better,&rsquo;&rdquo; Collet said. &ldquo;And for me, this is the most important, to teach him.&rdquo;
On the court, Wembanyama tries to be all business.
Off the court, he tries to still be a kid when he can.
He loves to read. Loves to draw. Yes, he plays video games. He showed off soccer moves with a basketball on Monday, expertly juggling &mdash; in soccer, that means to flick the ball in the air with one&rsquo;s foot and leg without letting it hitting the ground &mdash; while talking and walking. He also is working on some projects that he said &ldquo;have nothing to do with basketball,&rdquo; and when pressed to give some hints on what that meant, he offered a slight smile and said, &ldquo;if they&rsquo;re successful, you&rsquo;ll hear about them for sure.&rdquo;
After this week in Vegas, the French season resumes at home. Every Metropolitans 92 game will be followed because of him. This spring, draft talk will intensify. Then, on June 22, 2023, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is scheduled to walk to a lectern and say &ldquo;with the first pick in the 2023 NBA Draft ... &ldquo; and if all goes to plan, Wembanyama will take the stage seconds later for the ceremonial handshake.
That&rsquo;s when his path, the path to being &ldquo;one of one,&rdquo; will truly begin.
&ldquo;At the end of the day, regardless of what position you get picked in the draft, I think the most important is to have the best career afterwards,&rdquo; Wembanyama said. &ldquo;But as an athlete and as a competitor, I can&rsquo;t accept not to be No. 1.&rdquo;

Top 2023 NBA Draft prospect and French pro Victor Wembanyama speaks with the AP about the upcoming year, his goals and more.

Victor Wembanyama: 'My goal is to be like something you've never seen'

BERLIN (AP) &mdash; For Spain, almost all of the names on the national team&rsquo;s roster have changed in recent years.
The expectations didn&rsquo;t. And neither did the results.
Juancho Hernangomez scored 27 points, his brother Willy Hernangomez added 14 and won tournament MVP honors, and Spain topped France 88-76 on Sunday to win the EuroBasket gold medal.
It was Spain&rsquo;s fourth European championship in its last six tries, all those golds coming under coach Sergio Scariolo.
Lorenzo Brown scored 14 points and had 11 assists for Spain, while Jaime Fernandez scored 13.
Evan Fournier led France &mdash; which also dropped the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics to the U.S. last summer &mdash; with 23 points, with Thomas Heurtel scored 16 and Guerschon Yabusele added 13.
Rudy Gobert was held to only six points on just two shots from the field for France.
&ldquo;Spain played better from start to finish,&rdquo; Fournier said. &ldquo;They had a clear game plan and we did not execute ours well enough. ... We never really had control of the game. They just played better, man, period.&rdquo;
This was supposed to be a rebuilding summer for Spain. Pau and Marc Gasol, the longtime leaders of the program, retired from international following a quarterfinal loss to the U.S. at the Tokyo Games. Sergio Gonzalez also decided last summer was the right time to walk away, after 16 years with the national team. Sergio Llull and Ricky Rubio, two more of veterans, couldn&rsquo;t play because of injuries.
The winning tradition simply continued anyway. Spain is now the reigning Basketball World Cup (won in China in 2019) along with EuroBasket champion. It has also medaled in 10 of its last 11 EuroBasket appearances.
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For France, it was another medal &mdash; and another instance of coming up a bit short of the shiniest medal. France&rsquo;s last major crown came in winning EuroBasket in 2013. Since then, the French have won two bronzes at the World Cup (2014, 2019), a bronze at EuroBasket (2015), silver at the Tokyo Olympics, and now, silver again.
The difference was clear: Spain held a massive 35-7 edge in points off turnovers.
&ldquo;Today, obviously, we have lost the gold,&rdquo; France coach Vincent Collet said. &ldquo;They executed their plan perfect.&rdquo;
Juancho Hernangomez was 6-for-6 from 3-point range in a 6-minute span of the second quarter, helping Spain extend what was a 23-14 lead into a 45-26 edge with just about 3 minutes left in the half.
barrage. He had made a total of 12 3&prime;s in his eight previous games in this year&rsquo;s EuroBasket tournament, and his high in any NBA game is six.
An 11-0 run helped France cut what had been a 21-point deficit to just 47-37 at the half &mdash; and the momentum carried into the third quarter.
Yabusele&rsquo;s jumper with 6:52 left in the third got France within 49-46, and everything seemed to be shifting.
But Spain held on. Juancho Hernangomez&rsquo;s seventh 3-pointer with 7:29 left made it a 71-61 game, and the outcome wasn&rsquo;t in doubt again.
BRONZE MEDAL
GERMANY 82, POLAND 69
In the bronze-medal matchup earlier Sunday, Dennis Schroder scored 26 points and host Germany held off Poland.
It was Germany&rsquo;s first EuroBasket medal since winning silver in 2005. Poland matched its best finish in the event since 1971.
&ldquo;They told me it&rsquo;s 17 years since Germany won a medal,&rdquo; Germany coach Gordie Herbert said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of fitting that Dennis Schroder&rsquo;s number is 17. It&rsquo;s been an unbelievable honor to coach these guys from Day 1.&rdquo;
Johannes Voigtmann scored 14 for Germany.
&ldquo;We worked hard for it,&rdquo; Schroder said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an unbelievable feeling to come out third in the EuroBasket.&rdquo;
Michal Sokolowski led Poland with 18 points, with Jakub Garbacz scoring 12 and A.J. Slaughter finishing with 10 points and 10 assists.

Juancho Hernangomez scored 27 points to lead Spain to the gold medal.

Spain wins EuroBasket title, topping France 88-76 for gold

France sent a message on its way to grabbing a spot in the EuroBasket championship game and a showdown with Spain.
Guerschon Yabusele scored 22 points, and France rolled past Poland 95-54 in the semifinals of the European championships on Friday.
&ldquo;We just played our basketball,&rdquo; Yabusele said. &ldquo;We were really good on defense and we were really aggressive. We made everything hard for them.&rdquo;
The 41-point margin was the largest ever in a EuroBasket medal-round game played under the current tournament format, one more than 40-point wins posted by Croatia over Greece in the 1993 bronze-medal game and by the Soviet Union over Poland in the 1967 semifinals.
Elle Okobo and Evan Fournier each had 10 points in a rare easy one for France, which had outscored opponents by a total of 11 points in its first seven games of the tournament &mdash;&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-france-poland-italy-71f01c5c88ed542aa26ad87ce9151f9b" target="_blank" rel="noopener">plus won each of its last two contests in overtime,</a>&nbsp;benefitting in both from missed free throws in the final moments by Turkey and Italy.
"We started the game with will and determination,&rdquo; France coach Vincent Collet said. &ldquo;That is what made the difference.&rdquo;
Next up for France: Spain, which defeated host Germany 96-91 in Friday&rsquo;s other semifinal. The gold- and bronze-medal games are Sunday.
It&rsquo;ll mark the fifth time in the last six EuroBaskets that either Spain or France has won gold; the exception was 2017, when Slovenia prevailed. It&rsquo;ll also be a rematch of the 2011 EuroBasket final, where Spain topped France.
&ldquo;We worked really hard to put ourselves in this position,&rdquo; said France center Rudy Gobert, who had six rebounds and three blocks. &ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ve got one more game to go. When we started preparations, the goal was to win the gold medal and now we&rsquo;re in position to make it happen. So, one more game.&rdquo;
Playing for gold represents the latest big chance for France, which captured its last major crown by winning EuroBasket in 2013. Since then, the French have won two bronzes at the World Cup (2014, 2019), a bronze at EuroBasket (2015) and silver at the delayed Tokyo Olympics that were contested in the summer of 2021.
Every stat Friday showed France&rsquo;s dominance. It shot 62%, compared with 32% for Poland. France held a 40-21 edge in rebounding, a 22-9 edge in points off turnovers and a 40-16 advantage from points in the paint.
&ldquo;Like a lot of games in this tournament, it could go south, it could go north,&rdquo; Poland coach Igor Milicic said. &ldquo;This game went south.&rdquo;
A.J. Slaughter and Michal Michalak led Poland &mdash; which made the semifinals by upsetting defending champion Slovenia 90-87 on Wednesday &mdash; with nine points apiece. It was Poland&rsquo;s third loss of the tournament, all coming in blowouts. The others were a 30-point defeat to Finland and a 29-point loss to Serbia in the group stage.
&ldquo;We tip our hats off to France,&rdquo; said Slaughter, a Kentucky-born guard who helped Western Kentucky to upset wins as a No. 12 seed in both the 2008 and 2009 NCAA tournaments. &ldquo;They played a really good game tonight. ... But we still have our heads high. We still have a medal game on Sunday. We&rsquo;ll come back, play with pride and see if we can leave here with a medal.&rdquo;
SPAIN 96, GERMANY 91
Lorenzo Brown scored 29 points, and Spain used a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter to rally past host Germany in the second semifinal.
Germany led by 10 points late in the third quarter, before Spain took over. Juancho Hernangomez scored seven of his 13 points in the game-deciding run, one where Spain turned a 77-70 deficit into an 83-77 lead with 4:04 remaining.
&ldquo;I cannot find the words to congratulate my players,&rdquo; Spain coach Sergio Scariolo said. &ldquo;Probably this medal is the least expected, but to me, the most satisfactory. Built upon hard work, togetherness, team basketball, defensive effort, desire to overcome our limits ... and guts in the fourth quarter.&rdquo;
It was Spain&rsquo;s fifth consecutive win at the tournament, the last four of them coming by 10 points or less.
&ldquo;When you bring intensity to the game, anything can happen,&rdquo; said Usman Garuba, who had a team-high seven assists for Spain.
And it was Brown&rsquo;s highest-scoring game of the tournament, plus more than doubled his per-game average entering Friday; he was averaging 13.4 points in Spain&rsquo;s first seven games.
Dennis Schroder led all scorers with 30 points for Germany, but managed only two points in the fourth quarter. Franz Wagner and Andreas Obst each scored 15 for Germany, while Daniel Theis added 10.
&ldquo;The energy was amazing out there,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that crowd came to play tonight. Felt amazing from the jump. I felt like our guys felt amazing from the jump as well. Schroder came out, playing unbelievable, finished the game unbelievable as well. But it just took a lot of guts from our end.&rdquo;
Germany coach Gordie Herbert said losing momentum early in the fourth quarter was key.
&ldquo;We had a tough five, six minutes,&rdquo; Herbert said.
EuroBasket ends Sunday, and from there, Schroder is headed to Los Angeles. The agency that represents him, Priority Sports, said Friday that Schroder &mdash; who has averaged 21.6 points and 7.3 assists per game at EuroBasket &mdash; agreed on a $2.6 million contract with the Lakers for the coming season.

France sent a message on its way to grabbing a spot in the EuroBasket championship game and a showdown with Spain.

France tops Poland, Spain beats Germany in EuroBasket semis

Team USA will take on Team France, also known as Les Bleus, in the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics this Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET. The gold-medal game will be televised by NBC in the United States &ndash; the first men&rsquo;s basketball game to appear on the network&rsquo;s flagship station.
This will be a rematch of the first game each team played at the Saitama Super Arena, when France defeated the U.S. 83-76, outscoring Team USA 26-13 in the fourth quarter of the quarterfinal matchup.&nbsp;
These teams also played at the 2019 World Cup of Basketball in China, with France defeating Team USA by a final score of 89-79. The Bleus earned the victory by outplaying the Americans in the fourth quarter. Evan Fournier, now a member of the New York Knicks, scored 22 points while Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz scored 21 points to go along with 16 rebounds.
So France has a two-game winning streak over the U.S. and returns many of the same players from their team of two years ago, while the Americans are almost entirely different. Only Khris Middleton and Jayson Tatum (who was a DNP-CD in that game) remain on the roster. Kevin Durant has been the Americans&rsquo; top player at the Olympics, averaging 19 points on 53% shooting from the field. He is trying for his third Olympic gold medal.
Here are 10 things to know going into the gold-medal game:
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10. Point guard will be a critical matchup, with Jrue Holiday of the United States going against Nando de Colo of France. U.S. head coach Gregg Popovich coached de Colo for three years in San Antonio. After leaving the Spurs, de Colo played one season with the Toronto Raptors before moving back to Europe where he spent five seasons as the floor general for CSKA Moscow and one with Fenerbahce in Turkey. Holiday is the best perimeter defender on the American team, but had trouble with Ricky Rubio of Spain in the quarterfinals. In France&rsquo;s semifinal victory over Slovenia, de Colo scored 25 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. He had 13 points in France&rsquo;s 83-76 victory over the United States in the Olympic opener for both teams &mdash; a game in which France scored 16 of the game&rsquo;s final 18 points. He is shooting 47.1% on three-pointers.
9. Center may be an even more important position because French coach Vincent Collet used a Twin-Towers tandem of Gobert and Vincent Poirier in the first meeting between the teams, and the Americans did not have the size to match up. If it happens again, Popovich will have to weigh whether to use Bam Adebayo and JaVale McGee alongside each other for the first time, and no coach likes to put out a lineup in the ultimate game that he has never used before. Using Draymond Green alongside Adebayo is also an option. Gobert is averaging 11.4 points and 9.6 rebounds in just over 25 minutes per game. Poirier, who plays for Real Madrid, did not play against Slovenia and is averaging only 12 minutes per game.
8. One of the newest members of the New York Knicks, Evan Fournier, is averaging 19.2 points per game (two-tenths more than Durant) and is shooting 54.1% on two-pointers and 41.7% from three. He is France&rsquo;s featured scorer. He has scored above 20 points in four of five games, with his average getting affected when he played only 14 minutes against Iran. Fournier shot just 1-for-4 from the field in that contest. His best game came in the opener against the United States, where he went 11-for-22 from the field in 34 minutes.
7. Popovich has shortened his rotation and is relying most on Durant, Holiday, Tatum, Adebayo, Devin Booker, Zach LaVine, Damian Lillard and Draymond Green. But Lillard comes with a caveat, because he has been subbed out for matchup purposes when his defense could be a hindrance. That happened against Spain when Cleveland&rsquo;s new point guard, Ricky Rubio, went off for 38 points. One of the intriguing questions going into the gold-medal game is whether Pop will value Lillard&rsquo;s offense as a necessary component to getting the victory. Collet&rsquo;s lineup choices will have an impact on that question.
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6. Green has only missed two shots in the Olympics, but he has only taken nine, despite playing an average of 18 minutes per game. Green is 3-for-3 on three-pointers and has made all four of his foul shots, but he also leads Team USA with 20 fouls and is the 10th-leading scorer at 4.2 points per game. He was placed on the roster because of his versatility on both ends of the court, and defense has been the one constant for the Americans in their victories.
5. The Americans have been called for 100 fouls, compared to 79 for their opponents. Under FIBA rules, a disqualification comes after the fifth foul &ndash; and technicals (called an &ldquo;unsportsmanlike foul&rdquo; in FIBA) count against a player&rsquo;s total. The refereeing has been par for the course as far as FIBA goes, with lots of physical contact allowed under the basket and in the open court. However, ticky-tack reach-in fouls are also whistled at random times. The referee assignments for the gold-medal game will be closely watched by the American federation, which keeps copious stats on different international referees&rsquo; tendencies. None of the officials will be from France or the United States. No NBA referees are working the Olympics.
4. Is LaVine Team USA&rsquo;s secret weapon? The Chicago Bulls&rsquo; All-Star &mdash; who will now be teaming up with DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso &mdash; will be the top three-point shooter (percentage-wise) in this game, hitting them at a 47.6% clip. But he is averaging only 19.6 minutes per game, despite being second on the team in assists (20) and being perfect from the foul line (5-for-5). He is getting squeezed in the rotation somewhat because so many of the American players are wings, and if he comes into the game against France and has a hot hand, it will be interesting to see whether Popovich rides him. LaVine is just ahead of Adebayo and just behind Booker in terms of minutes played per game.
3. Pressure is one of the biggest intangible factors in any basketball game, but much more so in a gold-medal game. Durant has played in three of them, and nobody on France has played in a single one in the Olympics. At the 2019 World Cup in China, Gobert was only 1-for-3 from the field and was outscored 28-3 by Luis Scola of Argentina in a semifinal game. Fournier shot only 6-for-17 in that loss, and de Colo came off the bench behind Frank Ntilikina and scored 11, while Nicolas Batum was just 1-for-6. Those stats do not exactly inspire &ldquo;confiance&rdquo; &ndash; the French word for confidence. Durant had 30 points in a 96-66 gold-medal victory over Serbia at the 2016 Olympics and another 30 points in America&rsquo;s 107-100 victory over Spain in the gold-medal game of the 2012 Olympics.
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2. Statistics other than points often paint a clearer picture of what certain teams are doing particularly well. The Americans have 50 steals to their opponents&rsquo; 27, 26 blocks compared to nine for their opponents and are forcing 17 turnovers per game compared to 10.9 by their opponents. They are also outrebounding their opponents by 1.6 per game despite being beaten in that category in their opener against France, 42-38. In five games, their opponents have combined for only 85 third-quarter points &ndash; an indication that they come out of halftime at each game with a strong defensive mindset, something we saw against Australia in the semifinal when they outscored the Boomers 32-10 in the third.
1. Despite Durant already having two of them, a gold medal is an extraordinarily difficult thing to earn. Most NBA players have none and will never have any, so this opportunity is extra special and will bring out the best in the best competitors. What should worry the Americans is having a close game late in the fourth quarter, because that is when the strangest of strange things happen. At the infamous 1972 gold-medal game between the Soviet Union and the United States, the final play was replayed twice despite a jury (yes, they have a jury at gold medal games) ruling in the Americans&rsquo; favor on one disputed play. It was overruled by the head of FIBA, who came down from the stands and ordered the final inbounds play to take place a third time. Team USA won the silver medal at those games, but those medals have remain locked in a vault in Geneva, Switzerland ever since, because every player on the American team refused to accept them.
So it&rsquo;s okay to expect the unexpected, despite Team USA being favored by 12.5 points.

Kevin Durant and Zach LaVine will lead Team USA into the gold-medal game against Team France. Here are things to watch for.

10 things to know ahead of USA-France Olympic gold-medal game

Team USA did what was expected of them in Saitama, Japan, on Wednesday, making a mockery of competitiveness by clobbering Iran 120-66 in their second game of the Tokyo Olympics.
Gregg Popovich&rsquo;s team of figuring-it-out-on-the-fly Olympians finally looked dominant.
&ldquo;The defense is the key, and obviously when the ball is going in, it gives everyone a lot of confidence,&rdquo; assistant coach Lloyd Pierce said.
He was absolutely correct, but judging the U.S. team off this particular mismatch makes about as much sense as judging them off of their first scrimmage, a loss to a Nigerian team that appears to have peaked in Las Vegas (since they are 0-2 in Japan).
This was one particularly easy thanks to Damian Lillard, who knocked down six three-pointers in a first half that ended with the Americans ahead 60-30. The onslaught continued in the third quarter, as the Americans exhibited a particularly acute defensive intensity. But again, this was a mismatch against the reigning FIBA-Asia champions, and not much of a test is expected in the final game of the group stage against the Czech Republic on Saturday.
Circle next Tuesday on your calendar, because that is when the knockout stage begins &ndash; when the competition gets tougher and the stakes are do-or-die. The winners in the quarterfinals advance. The losers are knocked out of the Olympics.
Team USA will finish second in Group A if France wins out, and though it is too early to accurately predict who the quarterfinal opponent will be, the four top seeds in the quarterfinals go to the three group winners along with the best second-place team (which is determined by point differential).
The Americans may or may not be that team, depending on the results of games still to be played. That &ldquo;top four&rdquo; comprises Group D, while the other two second-place finishers along with the two best third-place finishers will comprise Group E. The quarterfinals matchups are determined by a draw, and all that the Americans know is that they will not play France in the quarters.
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Thursday&rsquo;s game was about showing the right combination of energy, offensive prowess and defensive intensity, and the Americans received an &lsquo;A&rsquo; grade on all three. But their opponent was horribly overmatched except at center, where NBA veteran Hamed Haddadi (who now plays in China) scored Iran&rsquo;s first four points off of offensive rebounds &ndash; something that other opponents will try to emulate since Team USA has only two centers, Bam Adebayo and JaVale McGee, who are unlikely to be paired together on the court at the same time. This will matter if there are two Gasols on the court if they play Spain, or if they eventually play France in the semifinals or gold medal game and Vincent Collet trots out Rudy Gobert and Vincent Poirier again.
Nothing short of a gold medal will be acceptable for the Americans, who now must deal with nearly five full days of downtime before playing a meaningful game (assuming they handle the Czechs with ease). Typically at an Olympics, the players would take in other events and go out and mingle with the public, but fraternization outside of the Olympic bubble is a no-no in Japan, and checking out a random judo match or badminton game may not have quite the same appeal when surrounded by thousands of empty seats.
Remember, it&rsquo;s still early in this tournament. And FIBA basketball always brings surprises, most often when the stakes get a whole lot higher. Veteran USA Basketball officials know which referees have a history of making things tough on American teams, and that information will be passed down to the coaching staff and then to the players.
Back home, there is still a significant portion of the basketball-viewing public in America that expects these games to resemble the 1992 Dream-Team games, but to borrow a quote from Popovich that was first uttered 15 years ago but remains relevant today: &ldquo;Those people must have been living in a phone booth the past few years.&rdquo;
Still, social media lights up when Team USA falters, and social media is available in Japan. So if the Americans are struggling, they are going to know about it &ndash; maybe even more than they normally would because of the amount of downtime they are dealing with.
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So the trick now is to forget about the Iran game. It was a blowout, which is what it should have been. It was not much of a watch for Americans who streamed it online over the Peacock Network (since NBC again chose to broadcast different sports). Lillard finished with a team-high 21 points, Devin Booker had 16, Jayson Tatum scored 14 and Zach LaVine had 13. The U.S. had only six turnovers.
&ldquo;We came out with a lot more energy,&rdquo; Lillard said. &ldquo;We came out here and made it happen, and that&rsquo;s what we are going to have to do in these Olympics. We&rsquo;re here to dominate and be winners and represent our country the right way. My primary focus was to come out, be aggressive and be myself.&rdquo;
The fun stuff happens next week, which allows hoops fans to concentrate on the 2021 NBA Draft and all the accompanying deals that will be made between now and the wee hours of Friday morning. The Olympics will continue, but the basketball will take a back seat for several days.
It is on Popovich and the players to keep their focus on familiarizing themselves with each other, studying their possible opponents and keeping their sanity amid the isolation.
There&rsquo;s no chance they are done with the drama after experiencing so much of it already.

Team USA blew out Iran, 120-66, and Gregg Popovich’s squad of figuring-it-out-on-the-fly Olympians finally looked dominant.

After a dominant win over Iran, what's next for Team USA?

Hold off on the hysteria, okay?
Team USA&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/united-states-loses-to-france-83-76-25-game-olympic-win-streak-ends" target="_blank" rel="noopener">loss to France</a> was a bad one, no question -- but it is not the end of the world. Heck, it is only the beginning of the Olympics.
They can recover from this. All they have to do is beat Iran and the Czech Republic (or lose one of those games, but advance on point differential) in the group phase. If that gets accomplished, Team USA will make it to the single-elimination quarterfinals. By then, the team should have developed some chemistry and cohesion. By then, we probably will not see the knee-knocking we saw late in the fourth quarter.
In a nutshell, this went wrong in the final minute when it could have gone either way.
Open three-pointer, miss.&nbsp;
Another open three-pointer, clang.&nbsp;
Yet another, and... even the friendly rims at Saitama SuperArena were unfriendly.&nbsp;
Team USA lost to France in its Olympic opener on Sunday not because they were outplayed, but because they could not shoot when it counted most. It was that simple. The very best team that the American federation could put together could not hit a shot when it mattered.
It had been 17 years since the United States lost a game at an Olympics, and that one &ndash; a 19-point loss to Puerto Rico in the Americans' debut at the Athens Olympics&mdash;was far more putrid than this one. But what was most disconcerting about this loss was that Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday all missed wide-open looks with about 30 seconds remaining and the Americans trailing by two.&nbsp;
After the last miss, Lillard was called for an unsportmanlike foul for inadvertently tripping Evan Fournier. His free throw, and two subsequent free throws by Rudy Gobert, finished off a 14-0 fourth-quarter run for France, and now Gregg Popovich has to figure out a way to get his players to shake this one off -- no matter how much their collective pride is wounded.
"When you lose a game, you're not surprised. You're disappointed. I don't understand the word 'surprised.' That sort of disses the French team, as if we're supposed to beat them by 30. That's a hell of a team," Popovich said in a postgame news conference.
This was only a pool play game, and although a gold medal seems out of the Americans' reach given the way they played in their opener, there's one important thing to keep in mind: The Olympics are far from over. They have just begun. And even when the Americans lost to Puerto Rico and Lithuania in the 2004 Athens Games, they were still alive for a gold medal until losing to Argentina in the semifinals.
This loss was inglorious, for sure. But for Team USA, there is the undeniable fact that it is lacking in harmony after Holiday and Devin Booker (and Khris Middleton, who only played 5 &frac12; minutes) just joined the team late Saturday night; they have plenty of time to practice together with the new additions, and the goal here is not to win every game. It is to win the last three.
&ldquo;This was my first day,&rdquo; Holiday said. &ldquo;Literally, my first day.&rdquo;
Lillard missed 7 of his 10 shots, and six of those were from three-point range. Durant was saddled with foul trouble (he got four quick ones, and FIBA rules carry a disqualification for a fifth) and shot just 4-for-12, including 1-for-6 on threes. Booker was 0-for-2 from downtown. Jayson Tatum was 1-for-5.&nbsp;
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So the French have something to be happy about, and Celtics fans can at least take some solace in the fact that Evan Fournier (28 points) is capable of greatness. This was France&rsquo;s second straight victory over the Americans -- they also defeated them at the 2019 World Cup of Basketball in China. But the French did not win that tournament, Spain did. The Spanish have not even played yet in Tokyo, nor has Slovenia (led by Luka Doncic) or Argentina or the host country, Japan.
This tournament is about playing your best at the end, not at the beginning. So dismiss Team USA at your own peril. They still have the most talent 1-through-12; it will be a matter of Coach Popovich and his assistants, Lloyd Pierce and Steve Kerr, figuring out what is the right rotation for any particular opponent.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Don't get too high; don&rsquo;t get too low,&rdquo; Holiday said in relaying Popovich&rsquo;s postgame message. &ldquo;We have to put teams away.&rdquo;
&ldquo;This is the first time we&rsquo;ve played together, and all of us have been through adversity,&rdquo; Holiday added, noting twice that the Molten ball used in FIBA competitions is quite different from the Spalding ball used in the NBA. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll accomplish this, too. We&rsquo;re smart players with good character. We&rsquo;ll figure it out.&rdquo;
The Americans&rsquo; lack of size was exploited by French head coach Vincent Collet in the third quarter, as he played big men Rudy Gobert and Vincent Poirier together in a Twin Towers lineup that kept this thing close. It allowed France to stick around so that the game would be decided in the final minutes.
The biggest hustle play came from Guerschon Yabusele when he dove to the ground and saved a ball from going out of bounds in front of the American bench, tipping it to Fournier for a three-pointer that gave France a 76-74 lead. The Americans kept doing the same things wrong on offense &ndash; jacking up threes instead of driving and dishing and/or drawing fouls; Team USA did not have a single field goal after Zach LaVine made one with 4:21 left in the game.
So this was bad, but it was not a disaster.&nbsp;
Again, the goal is not to win every game. It is to win the final three games. Perhaps Team USA can do it, and perhaps NBC will show it.
But Sunday showed us that nothing in these Olympics is certain.

Chris Sheridan analyzes the Americans' loss to France in their Olympic opener and why Team USA isn't out of it yet.