Tag: show

Wembanyama steals show for France in Paris Olympics warmup

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French basketball player Victor Wembanyama talks to the audience during a 5×5 France Olympics Basket Team Media Day in Paris, on June 27, 2024. (Photo by Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

PARIS— Victor Wembanyama stole the show with spectacular one-handed dunks as France opened preparations for its men’s basketball gold medal bid at the Paris Olympics.

In a promising sign of things to come, the NBA’s Rookie of the Year was all smiles after powerful dunks with both hands in a 96-46 rout of Turkey on Wednesday night. He looked slick as he scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed six rebounds in front of a sold-out crowd of around 5,500 in Rouen.

It was the first of six warmup matches for France, heading into the July 26-Aug. 11 Summer Games.

READ:  Victor Wembanyama ‘can’t wait’ for France-USA showdown at Paris Olympics

“Victor played a ‘Wemby game.’ He was imposing in defense and varied things in attack. It’s something we’ve never really known before in the France team,” captain Nicolas Batum said. “It’s a great asset for us, one we will be able to use in many situations.”

The 20-year-old San Antonio Spurs star also combined well with veteran Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in their first outing together for France. The 32-year-old Gobert was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for a record-tying fourth time, with Wembanyama second in the voting.

“There’s still work to be done,” Batum said, looking ahead to the Olympics. “But when you have two greats (Wembanyama and Gobert), it helps a lot.”

There were also some impressive defense from Washington Wizards rookie guard Bilal Coulibaly.

France lost 87-82 to the United States in the gold-medal game at the Tokyo Olympics but hopes are high that coach Vincent Collet’s side can win gold at home. France is considered among the strongest teams alongside the U.S, Canada, Serbia and world champion Germany.

Last week, Wembanyama was asked about the prospect of another France-USA final, against the likes of LeBron James and Stephen Curry.

“ I can’t wait to face them, it will be a very interesting matchup,” he said in Paris. “As a basketball player, it’s also a dream to play against Team USA and even against all those players, all those legends.”

READ: Chris Paul joining Wembanyana at Spurs as NBA free agency opens

France’s first Group B opponent at the Olympics will be the winner of the last qualifying tournament later this week. It then plays Japan and Germany in the 12-team field, held in the northern city of Lille.

French basketball is enjoying immense popularity on the back of Wembanyama’s meteoric rise and the emergence of new talents.

This year’s top two NBA draft picks are French — Zaccharie Risacher (Atlanta Hawks) and Alexandre Sarr (Washington Wizards) — with Tidjane Salaün drafted No. 6 by the Charlotte Hornets.



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France joined the United States as the only countries with three players drafted in the top 10 picks of an NBA draft. Pacome Dadiet (New York Knicks) and Melvin Ajinca (Dallas Mavericks) made it five Frenchmen selected overall.

Ex-UST spiker wants to show people she can play

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Pierre Abellana didn’t get too much exposure in her two-year stay with University of Santo Tomas (UST).

But Abellana, a Golden Tigress recruit from University of San Carlos, knows that she has so much more to show and she is raring to show just that if the stars align for her to get picked in the inaugural PVL Rookie Draft.

“Personally, I am really eager to show what I can do especially since I only had a limited playing time last [UAAP Season 86],” Abellana said in Filipino in the recently concluded Draft Combine.

“We also did not achieve our goal [of claiming the championship] so I guess I would just have to get over it through this,” she added referring to UST being swept by National University in their Finals clash previously.

Abellana is among the 47 aspirants hoping to get their shot in the PVL which will conduct its first-ever Draft on July 8.

The 5-foot-6 versatile spiker was a role player in her stint with UST where she was usually tapped off the bench. Her UST career can be summed up in modest numbers: 11 points from 10 attacks and an ace, nine excellent digs and six excellent receptions.

Combine results

“I really want to prove myself because I know that other people have not seen how I really play,” she said after forgoing her three remaining years of eligibility in the UAAP.

Prior to her rookie appearance in the UAAP, Abellana displayed her talent with a 23-point outing against Adamson two years ago in the preseason tournament Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Conference.

In the recent Draft Combine, the young hitter registered a second-best standing vertical jump at 63.50 centimeters, a 299-cm vertical jump with approach, a 222-cm standing broad jump, a 6.5-second modified agility T-test and a 14.35-second 60-meter shuttle run in the Anthropometry and Fitness test.

“[The Combine] was challenging but it also shows us the extent of what we can do and what else we can do for PVL,” said Abellana who also shared that her former UST coaches were supportive of her decision to try her luck in the pros.

“[The coaches] pushed me, saying that ‘you can already apply for the draft, you can do it,’” she said while also revealing that she already wants to earn to help support her family.

Knowing that she could’ve done more to help the Golden Tigresses, Abellana said who she was excited to see at the opposite side of the court, if all goes well.



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“I want to face the teams of my previous coaches: coach KungFu (Reyes, Chery Tiggo), coach Lerma (Giron, Galeries Tower), coach Shaq (delos Santos, Cignal),” Abellana said.

“[But I am still] OK having coach KungFu as a coach, he is solid and I learned a lot from him and he made me a stronger player,” she added.

Gilas Pilipinas flies to Turkiye hoping to show readiness for OQT

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Dwight Ramos leads Gilas Pilipinas past Taiwan Mustangs in a tune-up game. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

National coach Tim Cone was brutally candid when asked to assess Gilas Pilipinas ahead of the tall task in the Fiba Olympic Qualifiers (OQT).

“I don’t expect us to be ready at this point,” he told reporters late Monday night, shortly after thumping the Taiwan Mustangs, 74-64, in the first of three tuneup matches lined up ahead of the showcase in Riga, Latvia.

“We’re not ready, [and] that’s why we’re still practicing and playing friendlies—so we could get ready. I hope to see improvement. I hope to see us get better on both sides of the ball,” he added.

And so Gilas left for Turkiye on late Tuesday night, hoping to do just that. The Philippines is slated to play higher-ranked Turkish and Polish national teams in what is shaping up as a simulation of the foes that await in the OQT next week.

“Poland’s No. 15 in the world, so they’re gonna give us a good feel (of the competition). And Turkiye’s No. 24—and they’re much better if their NBA guys show up,” Cone said. “It should be a great indication [of our capabilities] by the time we get to Riga.

“We’re just trying to get our game right. We don’t care if we win or we lose,” he added.

“They’re friendlies, so we’re not going to go in-depth in terms of scouting or trying to understand what they’re trying to do. We’re locked [in on] Latvia, we’re locked [in on] Georgia.”

Gilas is slotted with the world No. 6 Latvians and No. 23 Georgians in the Riga meet where one of the last four tickets to the Summer Olympic Games in Paris is at stake.

“[It’s] gonna be a tough task for us,” naturalized ace Justin Brownlee said of the remaining friendlies. “I think it’s great for our preparation for Latvia and Georgia and whoever we may meet in the qualifiers … and it’s gonna be a test—and—kind of measure what we have.”

Grounded by injuries

The pair of tuneup games will indeed be an accounting of sorts for Gilas, which brought only 11 players as AJ Edu, Jamie Malonzo, and Scottie Thompson have been grounded by injuries.

June Mar Fajardo, who missed the previous Gilas tour, has been reactivated for the OQT. Many-time skipper Japeth Aguilar has been reeled back into service, while Ateneo standout Mason Amos comes in as a late addition for the Filipinos.

“The idea is if we need somebody, we’ll go get them. We got Japeth, we got Mason. The thing with Scottie happened so late. [W]e just couldn’t get somebody for him,” Cone said.

“Again, we didn’t really feel we needed anybody for him at this point.

This is just the style that I want to do, and we came into this with eyes wide open and we knew this might happen. But also, if you remember the last window, we only had 10 players. Jamie didn’t play. June Mar didn’t play. AJ didn’t play. we only had Japeth as the sub,” he added.

“Going with 10, 11 guys? Not a problem for us.”

Program fixture Dwight Ramos couldn’t agree more.



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“You only need five players on the court,” he said. “So 11’s good enough.” INQ