France is moving on at the 2024 Paris Olympics after pulling off an upset win over Canada, but not without some controversy.
France head coach Vincent Collet made a bold starting lineup change to match up with higher-seeded Canada. Longtime French captains Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier were moved to the bench in favor of sharpshooter Isaia Cordinier and defensive-minded guard Frank Ntilikina.
This allowed France to move Victor Wembanyama to center and play smaller and faster to keep up with a Canada team powered by perimeter talent like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and RJ Barrett.
Its thin frontcourt of bigs featuring Kelly Olynyk, Dwight Powell, and Khem Birch wasn't able to punish France's small-ball lineups, and Collet's plan worked to perfection.
Fournier still played a big role for France off the bench, scoring 15 points with a dagger 3-pointer late in the game, but the same cannot be said for Gobert.
The four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year only played 3:41 in the contest, which raised eyebrows among those who tuned in.
MORE: The smart decision that fueled France's win over Canada
What happened to Rudy Gobert? France coach contradicts finger injury update at 2024 Olympics after benching
After the win, Gobert revealed to the media that he suffered an injury to his left ring finger at practice on Saturday.
The star center said he had surgery on his left ring finger Monday and was thankful he was able to play any minutes at all, per The Athletic's Sam Amick.
An injury made sense, considering Gobert has been one of France's best players for years now. Even when it was announced he would come off the bench, there was no expectation that he would play fewer than four minutes in a win-or-go-home game.
The only catch is that moments later, France head coach Collet said Gobert did not have surgery, but he did have an MRI, per The Athletic.
“Yesterday evening, despite the [doctor] saying he could play, he had pain, so we didn’t know exactly [if] he could play,” Collet said.
“But finally, this morning, he said, ‘I can play.’ But my idea was to protect him if I could do it, [and] I wanted to have him on the bench. As it was working well with the other big men, I prefer to keep him on the bench and he will be ready for the next game.”
Collet also added that his lineup changes against Canada were strictly based on matchups.
"Small ball. I wanted Wemby to start at position five. [Guerschon] Yabusele at position 4," he said. "The second change was Cordinier for Evan Fournier because I wanted to start with a defensive starting five," he concluded.
The strategy worked to perfection as France came away with a convincing win over one of the best teams in the tournament.
Gobert had no issue with the decision, praising the way the new starters stepped up and rose to the occasion.
“I have full trust in my teammates and coaches. It worked. You saw the way we started tonight. The guys were ready to play. They set the tone for the whole game," Gobert said, per The Washington Post's Ben Golliver.
France will take on Germany in the semifinals on Thursday with a trip to the gold medal match on the line.
