August 8th, the semi-finals of the Paris Olympic Men’s Basketball Tournament officially commenced, with the French men’s basketball team facing off against the German men’s basketball team.
In this match, both teams continued with their starting lineups from the quarter-finals. France kept Gobert and Fournier on the bench. This time, France started the game with a poor offensive showing, falling behind 2-12 initially, but managed to gradually adjust and catch up, even drawing level at 33-all by halftime.
In the first half, the French men’s basketball team’s shooting touch was particularly poor, hitting only 1 out of 12 three-point attempts, with only Cordinier managing to score one three-pointer. Batum, Wembanyama, and Fournier combined for a dismal 0 out of 8. The only consolation was that despite such a low shooting percentage, they managed to draw level at halftime, partly due to their defense, which held Germany to just 8 points in the second quarter.
Among all players, Cordinier, who had an explosive performance in the previous game, once again became the ace in the hole, scoring 11 points on 5 out of 9 shooting, making him the only player from either team to score in double digits in the first half.