They had all come for him.
To see the star Victor Wembanyama shine during the star game.
The All Star Game of French basketball, which was held this Thursday evening in a packed Accor Arena in Paris - sold out for the 19th year in a row - and the fans had their eyes enamored for the interior of the Mets de Boulogne- Levallois.
Even his partners were eager to evolve alongside the one LeBron James calls “the alien”.
“We are going to serve him, we are going to do everything to highlight him even more”, announced Stéphane Gombauld, the interior of Nancy, the day before the match.
And they saw!
Unique gestures, shovel dunks and a French victory (136-128).
But As Wemby, number 1 flocked on the jersey as the applause meter, was slow to hold the top of the bill.
The evening had not started in the best of ways.
Eager to participate in the 3-point shooting competition - "welcome to modern basketball where the greats know how to shoot", had launched the speaker of the evening -, the demiurge of French basketball had lost its magic.
Faced with three real triggers and exercise specialists, he finished in 4th place in the challenge with 12 points.
"A pleasant experience, a super hard exercise, a great challenge, I would have liked to try it again", he would say later.
The contest was eventually won by Nicolas Lang, the Limoges sniper.
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After this bitter appetizer, Wembanyama was keen to show what the likely future number 1 in the next NBA draft was capable of.
While the selection of the French was martyred by the team from the "rest of the world", he woke up the 15,833 spectators of the Accor Arena on a movement of which he holds the secret.
After a series of dribbles between the legs between three opponents at the 3-point line, he flew to the dunk in a split second.
The action turned the room into a volcano.
Faced with a diabolical foreign legion with 3 points, he was one of the only Frenchmen, with the Parisian Juhann Bégarin, to put on the intensity.
But at the break the Blues were on the ropes (26-43, 9th; 64-75, 20th).
2023 and the NBA in sight
Half-time and the dunk contest where he participated at the request of Yves Pons - the Asvel player, and future winner, took the ball over Wemby's head before slamming a thunderous smash - cheered up the blue team which was catching up on its delay.
With a dunk, Wemby even allowed the "Frenchys" to come back tied before giving them the advantage on a free throw (87-86, 26th).
Star Wars had finally begun.
The show also like this pass in the back for his Mets teammate Hugo Besson, author of an award-winning shot.
Ten minutes from the buzzer, the French led the dance (106-99, 30th).
Nothing could stand in their way to victory after two setbacks in the last two editions.
A final rebound, then a pass for Juhann Bégarin, the other great architect of the French victory (25 pts, 12 rebounds,
The LNB All-Star Game MVP... @vicw_32!
27 PTS |
12 REBs |
4 ASTs |
3 STLs |
2 BLK pic.twitter.com/dI6OzsBfDR
— NBA (@NBA) December 29, 2022
He finished the game with 27 points (but with a poor 12 of 25 shooting including 1 of 9 three-pointers), 12 rebounds, 3 steals, 4 assists, 2 blocks.
And an MVP title that gave him a smile even if he would have shared it with Bégarin.
“I hope my future titles will eclipse this performance but it was a pleasant experience overall, that's what I will remember from the evening rather than this MVP trophy which I don't really understand, confides the person concerned.
Juhann has a better rating (
addition of the different statistical categories of the match
) than me, I guess why he was not MVP but I'm sure he deserved it.
»
The year 2022 therefore closes with a trophy and a victory for Wembanyama.
He will be able to enjoy a long-awaited rest – “I was waiting for this end-of-year break to see my family and think about something other than basketball” – and deserved before living a year 2023 which promises to be beautiful.
With the NBA in sight.