2024 Paris Olympics: Victor Wembanyama and France hold off Brazil to take 78-66 win

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As Olympic basketball tips off, France and Brazil got things off to an exciting start, with the host country beating the Brazilians 78-66 on Saturday. French phenom Victor Wembanyama scored 19 points, including a handful of huge dunks, to help France take its first game of the tournament.

Brazil powered its way to an early lead and held it through most of the first half, despite a second-quarter surge from France. However, a 3-pointer from Evan Fournier at the end of the first half gave France a 39-36 lead.

In the third quarter, France finally started using the home crowd to its advantage, growing the lead. France headed into the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead, and held off the Brazilians, who kept fighting back.

With Brazil pushing against France in the final minutes, Nicolas Batum sank two huge 3-pointers to increase France's lead to 10 points. A Wembanyama dunk with less than a minute remaining just about sealed the deal for the Olympics hosts as France took the 12-point win.

Both teams struggled controlling the ball, with France turning over the ball 19 times and Brazil racking up 20 turnovers. The victory gave France an early advantage in Group B, which also features Germany and Japan.

Wembanyama continued to show off his incredible skills throughout the game, including this wild one-handed dunk in the second quarter as France rebuilt its momentum. The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year finished with 19 points, while Batum finished with 19 of his own. Brazil's Leo Meindl led his team with 14 points.

France's victory was the third basketball matchup of the day, with Australia and Germany getting easy wins over Spain and Japan, respectively, to start the tournament.

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Australia defeated Spain 96-80, with Jock Landale leading the team with 20 points. Spain's Santi Aldama had a dominant 27-point performance but could not lift the team over Australia. Australia led early on, with Spain overtaking the lead only once, in the third quarter, before Australia ran away and took a commanding win in Group A. The next Group A game, Greece versus Canada, will take place later on Saturday.

Germany had a dominant win of its own in the first matchup of Group B, beating Japan 97-77. Franz Wagner ended with 22 points to lead the team, with his brother Moritz chipping in 15 and Daniel Theis adding 18. Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe led Japan with 20 points and 16 points, respectively, in the loss.

Though he came close with a huge second-half rally, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece fell to Canada in their opening round game on Saturday night. Antetokounmpo dropped 34 points in the 86-79 loss to Canada, which was led by 23 points from R.J. Barrett and 21 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

France will next play Japan, and Brazil will take on Germany, with both games taking place on July 30.