IN a game of incredible runs, France’s opening massive salvo gave them enough of a cushion to stave off the repeated streaky rallies from Germany to take a 78-74 victory in a top-tier matchup at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Shenzhen on Sunday night.

France opened the game with a huge 14-0 blast and limited the Germans to only 4 points in the first quarter. The 4-point effort of the latter is their lowest tally in a quarter of a World Cup game.

Germany kept fighting back within striking distance but France always had a counter ready to stave off the challenge. Evan Fournier uncorked a cold-blooded, one-foot fadeaway jumper to give his country a 76-70 lead with 32.5 seconds left and a piercing dagger to the hearts of the Germans.

Although it was a close game, the 14-0 start of France was a huge advantage that put Germany in catch-up mode the whole game. The strong start afforded France to make mistakes but kept the Germans at bay to pull out the victory.

Player of the Game Evan Fournier recorded his first-ever double-double effort in a World Cup game with a massive stat line, collecting 26 points, 10 rebounds and adding three assists for good measure.

As expected, the interior defensive presence of Rudy Gobert was a huge difference in stifling Germany’s offense. The game-changing defensive prowess of the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year will be a key weapon for France in this campaign.

The win by France has a huge implication down the road when the second round commences, as they will carry over their record and face the top two teams from the “Group of Death,” which features Canada, Lithuania,  Australia and Senegal.

The European squad will be hoping to sweep the group in their next two games against the Dominican Republic and Jordan barring any upsets.

France head coach Vincent Collet said: “We started exactly the way we wanted. We were very impressive in the first eight minutes. For sure, they could have scored a basket, but I think there was not one easy shot during those moments.”

Germany head coach Henrik Rodl said: “This was a huge game for both teams. We got the shots, especially in the beginning, that we wanted to get. We didn’t make them. We started getting nervous when we got to the basket.”

(FIBA)