Down Goes Germany!! France Pulls Off The Massive Upset And Is Moving On To The Gold Medal Game

Ezra Shaw. Getty Images.

Down goes Germany!! Holy shit!! Once again, FIBA basketball delivers. Just like we saw in their upset over Canada, France proved yet again that it's not only about how much NBA talent you have on your roster. Once you get to this stage of the tournament anyone can be beaten on any given night and for the second straight game France has shocked the world and is onto the Gold Medal Game. For the first time since 1996 the host country will medal, and they didn't even need home cooking in this win. They completely outplayed Germany after the first quarter and never looked back.

To put into perspective what an upset this is, Team Germany was one of the favorites for this whole tournament. They entered the 3rd ranked team in the world with France being 9th. The defending World Champions after winning the FIBA World Cup last summer, Germany was largely viewed as one of the more complete teams in the field outside of Team USA. They have size, elite guard play, shooting etc, and I think most people figured we'd be getting a Germany vs USA Finals.

There was only one problem. Just like Canada had to learn, Germany got a front row seat to the Yabu Show. Once again nobody could stop the Dancing Bear which fills my heart with a tremendous amount of joy

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You want to talk about making a case for yourself to find a way back into the NBA, that is exactly what Yabu has done these entire Olympics. Someone out there (cough cough Brad Stevens) needs to at least invite him to camp or something. He's a completely different player than what we saw during his first stint in Boston, and I'd say having your way against Canada who is all NBA players and then Germany who was one fo the favorites and made up of a handful of NBA guys holds some merit. The world deserves to have Yabu back in the NBA, so I'm going to need that to happen.

Then of course there was the Wemby factor

Wemby didn't even shoot the ball all that well (4-17), and it didn't matter. That's tough for Germany but oh well! When Wemby had to make a big play down the stretch he found a way to come through whether it was defensively or a big 3PM, and you could make the case that he's having himself one hell of a year so far

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What changed the course of this game was simple. France turned up their defense, completely removing Franz Wagner and FIBA Dennis Schroder from the equation. After allowing 25 points in the opening quarter, Germany never scored more than 19 points the rest of the way in any quarter, including only 8 points in the 2nd. Mind you, France did all this defensively with Gobert barely playing. Pretty good! To make things even better, they also got solid play from their own guards

and considering guard play was the biggest weakness of this France roster, getting big time production from that spot was crucial in this upset. Cordinier was massive, Frank Ntilikina had some big moments, and most importantly they took care of the ball. What felt like Germany's biggest advantage in this game, France being able to close the gap in that department was huge.

From a Team USA perspective, should they advance today against Serbia I think it's fair to suggest that this is the preferred opponent. At this point with the type of momentum France is playing with combined with the Gold Medal game being a hoe game, they'll have to come ready to play but in terms of a matchup, this is most likely what Team USA was hoping for. As long as they handle their shit and realize that anyone can get upset if they don't play the right way, their path to Gold looks even better at the moment.

I will say, you do get some "team of destiny" vibes from France after what we've seen in these last two games. If anything their run has shown why these Olympics/international FIBA competitions are so much fun. Even if they don't win Gold, this was a massive success for everyone involved, and remember a player like Wemby is just getting started.