Wembanyama vs. Jokic: France vs. Serbia - Paris Olympics Exhibition Match

As of today, we are officially just two weeks away from the Paris Olympics, which means national teams for basketball are gearing up with exhibition matches

And yesterday, Team Serbia would play versus Team France. I have to be honest here, guys. My initial plan for this video was to make a video about Team France and how terrifying Wemby and Rudy Gobert are together

They are arguably the two best defensive players on the planet. It's an absolute nightmare to have them on the floor with each other, especially seeing earlier in some of Team France's exhibition matches versus Germany, even Turkey, that Wemby was running a pick and roll with Rudy Gobert and finding him on the roll

And while I am still bullish on the host nation's chances in these Paris Olympics, this video is all about Nikola Jokic and remembering he is still the greatest player in the world

Of course, this is just an exhibition match, but you can tell this game meant something to these guys

Coming into this exhibition, Viktor Wembenyama has been averaging 25.5 points per game, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists on 67.7% from the field in his Olympic exhibition matches

And don't worry, a video on Team France is coming. And for Team Serbia, this would be Nikola Jokic and the Serbs' first preparation match ahead of Paris

Of course, Nikola Jokic has a long track record in international play for his national team

but just last year in the 2023 World Cup, Nikola Jokic would not play in it

Instead, led by Bogdan Bogdanovic, Team Serbia would defeat Team Canada in the semifinals of the FIBA World Cup

and lose in the gold medal game to team germany so this serbian team is no slouch they do not have

nikola jovic or nikola topic either but let's get right into this game to start it off victor

when benyama picked up right where he left off scoring seven of team france's first nine points

including this step back three which you're never going to be able to defend if he can do this

consistently on any level. Rudy Gobert completely in character hits a fadeaway jumper here on

Nikola Jokic. Here's an example of just the incredible patience Nikola Jokic has even just

two feet away from the rim scoring over Victor Weminyama and this was a big miss for Team France

early on. Wemby has those early seven points and then he just doesn't touch the ball for the next

however many possessions. Joker can't quite finish this one here, but he bulls over Victor

Webanyama trying to take a charge, and this was kind of his approach all game long. Be super

physical with Wemby, and as you'll see throughout this video, it worked to perfection. France has

some nice NBA veterans for role players You have Evan Fournier here hitting this corner three Nicholas Batum with the offensive rebound Hitting Frank Nielakina who was a first round pick for the New York Knicks back in 2017

If you remember correctly, he went eighth overall. Nielakina with another triple

And Team France is up 23-13 early on Serbia. To start the second quarter, another perfect example of Nikola Jokic thinking three steps ahead

He has Batum sealed here for position on this wing three. Gets the offensive rebound, puts it back in easily, and Team Serbia is coming back

It was the second quarter when Nikola Jokic really started inserting himself

He comes off a little screen here on the inbounds pass, hitting this baby hook over Victor

And then Nikola heating up, hits this step back three with just .8 left on the shot clock

and team serbia is up 32 27 completely erasing that 10 point deficit in the first quarter

a couple possessions later this is something only nicole yokich in the entire world can do

you have victor wembenyama guarding him rudy gobert in the paint remember there is no defensive

three seconds in fiba and not only does he get to the spot he wants to get to he finishes a hook

over Wemby completely neutralizing Rudy Gobert who is worried about Jokic's ability to pass but he

also gets the and one over Wemby and then again Nikola just outworking Victor Webinyama moving

him around whichever way he wants to go gets the offensive board and finishes over Rudy Gobert I'm

telling you guys this team France they are lethal defensively against any other team on the world

stage honestly including team usa of course team usa has way better creators from the perimeter

but rudy gobert just one defensive player of the year victor when banyama came in second these are

the two best rim protectors in the nba and the fact that koli jokic is just carving them up

on a random friday afternoon it's just classic nikoli jokic it's why he's the best player in the

world at this point team serbia has dominated the second quarter they're up 39 to 30 late in it

and nicole jokic decides again he wants to post up victor webin yama this video is brought to you

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video. Let's get right back into it. And again, you clicked on this video, you saw the title

you saw the thumbnail. He bullies Wemby pushing him back deep under the basket, stepping through

with a reverse layup and getting an add one. I'm going to sound like a broken record, but again

something only Nikola Jokic in the entire world can do Serbia is up 45 32 at half And in the second bogey would actually have some success on Wemby blowing by him for a reverse finish here and then versus Gobert blowing by

him as well. This Wemby 3 cuts the lead to just 6 to end the third, and I love this play from

Nikola Jokic again. Wemby has lost his dribble. He's in the corner, trapped, and Jokic again just

kind of bullies him into a turnover victor does have a nice block on micic here who if you remember

correctly was with oklahoma city was traded to the hornets in the gordon hayward trade team serbia

up 69 63 late jokic would get his fifth foul fouling out hooking wendy and team france would

cut the lead to four but then micic hits this clutch three team serbia goes on to win 79 to 67

Nikola Jokic finishes with 20 points and 12 boards just one assist but he goes 8 for 13 from the field

7 for 11 from 2 and he just cooked the two best defensive players in the world at what they do

best protecting the rim. Bogey was also huge for Team Serbia with 15 points and when we factor in

the fact that there was no Nikola Jovic there was no Nikola Topic and Team Serbia got silver

at the FIBA World Cup last year, I think it's time that we start taking Team Serbia

in these Paris Olympics more seriously. It doesn't sound like Nikola Jovic is going to be playing this year

and neither will Topic being at NBA Summer League, but Team Serbia could be a force to come on the international stage

They'll actually be in Team USA's group for the Olympics alongside South Sudan and Jose Alvarado's Puerto Rico

Although the Olympics are still just two weeks away, Team Serbia will play Team USA in an exhibition match on July 17th

And then on Team France's end, Victor Webinyama finishes with just 14 points and 10 rebounds on 3 for 8 from the field, and a team worse, minus 18 plus minus

And then Rudy Gobert was in foul trouble with 4 fouls, only plays 11 minutes in this one with just 3 points

I'm still very bullish on Team France in the Olympics. but they need more out of their guard play

Bilal Koulibaly has to have a big Olympics, and even Evan Fournier and Nicholas Batum

these guys have to be able to be efficient. At the end of the day, though

the biggest takeaway I am coming out of this one is that we may be overlooking Team Serbia

They may have a chance to win these Olympics. They didn't have Nikoli Okic last year

and even though Denver Nuggets lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in seven games

We have to remember too, they were up 20 plus in the third quarter of game seven at home before that brutal collapse

And we also have to be careful with a guy like Nikola Jokic that we do not take his greatness for granted and almost become used to it

He is still the best player in the world. Of course like I said this is just an exhibition match but it shows the greatness of Nikola Jokic at the same time there no one else in the world that can do what he did in this game that why

I'm super excited to see him in these Olympics what do you guys think here are the Olympic groups

and I'll go over really quickly I'll highlight a couple key players on each roster who do you

think are the favorites to get out of each group do you think Team USA is just going to dominate

is there a different team that we're not talking about that deserves some love in group a we have

australia who has quite a bit of nba players you have josh giddy dyson daniels josh green

dante exum patty mills joe ingles and the man the myth the legend himself matthew deladova

team greece who is qualifying for their first olympics since 2008 janice pretty much carried

this team his brother Costas is playing on this team as well but their roster has not been confirmed

yet team Canada with SGA Dylan Brooks RJ Barrett Lou Dort Jamal Murray Kelly Olenek Nikhil Alexander

Walker and then team Spain who has Santi Aldama Rudy Fernandez and then Wancho and Willie Hernan

Gomez in group B we have team France we just talked about them Victor Wemenyama Rudy Gobert

Evan Fournier, Bilal Koulibaly, Nicholas Batum. Team Germany, who won gold at the FIBA World Cup

last year, Dennis Schroeder, Franz Wagner, Mo Wagner. Team Japan, who has Rui Hachimura

and then Toma Naga from Nebraska, who was an absolute flamethrower in college basketball last

year. And then Team Brazil, who has just one NBA player on the roster, Guy Santos. And finally

group c which has team usa team serbia south sudan which is like thon maker peter jock who's an old

nba player and then bull bull and jt thor and finally puerto rico who was led by jose alvarado

what do you guys think is there anybody in this group that we're overlooking obviously team usa

is the favorite but it's going to be a fun olympics i'm excited to see a numerous amount of things

and low-key outside of Team USA. I would love to see Giannis carry that Greece team

to the podium, but y'all let me know. And if you're still here

feel free to check out any of my previous videos. I just made one on Cooper Flagg

being Team Select's best player in their scrimmage versus Team USA. And as a little present for staying

till the end of the video, be on the lookout for a Kaitlin Clark video

coming out very soon. I'm kind of tired of this discourse. it's not going to be that controversial but I have to make a video on how fantastic she has been

hint hint there is no competition between her and Angel Reese no disrespect to Angel Reese

but it's not comparing the same type of players and their impact thanks so much for watching and

as always we'll see you on the hardwood