The French men's basketball team announced their arrival in Paris with a rip-roaring 82-73 win over Canada on Tuesday that propelled the hosts into the Olympic semifinals riding a wave of national emotion.
After group play in Lille, the basketball tournament moved onto the Paris main stage for the quarterfinals with France and Canada the hot ticket on an action packed card.
All last week the Bercy Arena had been home for the gymnastics competition, but not even Simone Biles was able to thrill the packed house the way Victor Wembanyama and his teammates did.
Feeding off the energy crackling through a seething Bercy, France gave the home crowd what they came to see, storming to a 19-5 lead in the opening minutes they would never relinquish, each basket triggering a thundering roar that rocked the arena to its foundation.
Having repelled a Canadian fight back, the rafters rattled again with 90 seconds left on the clock as the packed arena broke out in a rousing flag-waving rendition of "La Marseillaise".
After a less than inspiring performance in the group stage that saw the Olympic hosts lose to Germany and need overtime to see off Japan, the French delivered their best effort when it mattered most, moving onto the semifinals and a rematch with Germany.
"It's a great feeling to be able to make sure we play on the last day of the Olympics," said France guard Evan Fournier. "Make sure we give ourselves a chance to win a medal and hopefully it's going be for the right one."
Leading the way for Les Bleus was Guerschon Yabusele with 22 points, while Isaia Cordinier added 20 in what was a total team effort with four players scoring in double figures.
➡️ 𝟮𝟮 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗦 pour Guerschon Yabusele 🇫🇷
— Basket USA 🏀 (@basketusa) August 6, 2024
➡️ 𝟮𝟬 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗦 pour Isaïa Cordinier 🇫🇷
➡️ 𝟭𝟱 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗦 pour Evan Fournier 🇫🇷
➡️ 𝟭𝟯 𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗦 pour Mathias Lessort 🇫🇷
🔥 𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗖𝗜 𝗠𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗘𝗨𝗥𝗦. 🔥#Paris2024 x #Basketball pic.twitter.com/QtQDTx2tq1
It was a crushing loss for Canada, which had eased through the group stage unbeaten and were among the podium picks after taking bronze at the World Cup.
"They played like they're at home," said Jamal Murray. "They brought that energy from the start.
"We weren't able to weather the storm. It didn't go our way today."
Earlier, Nikola Jokic proved again why he is a three-time NBA most valuable player, leading Serbia to a nail-biting 95-90 overtime win over Australia to reach the last four for the second time in three Games.
It was an uphill battle from the start for Serbia, who dug themselves out of a 24-point first half hole to reach the brink of a regulation victory only to watch Patty Mill hit a desperation fade away jumper with 1.4 seconds to play to force the extra session.
With just over a minute to go in overtime and Serbia trailing 90-89 Jokic came to his country's rescue, scoring two clutch baskets to deliver the dagger and a 93-90 lead.
Bogdan Bogdanovic made the final two free throws to seal the victory.
In other quarterfinal action Franz Wagner hit for 18 points as Germany overcame a sleepy start to ease past Greece 76-63.