Wembanyama takes over in OT, helps France escape a serious challenge from Japan at the Paris Games

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — The first three minutes were easy for Victor Wembanyama on Tuesday. So were the last five minutes.

Everything else was a grind.

Grabbing at his lower right leg after a quick trip off the court late in the first quarter, then grabbing at his left hip a couple of times later in the game, Wembanyama seemed to be laboring at times in France’s second game of the Paris Olympics. He finished with 18 points — getting a three-point play that put his team ahead for good 26 seconds into overtime — and France wound up holding off a serious upset bid by Japan, winning 94-90.

“The realization, the dynamic of the game,” Wembanyama said when asked what changed in overtime. “They were playing like underdogs and we were waiting for them to punch a little bit too much. I wanted to make a point and punch first in overtime. And it worked.”

As far as what seemed to be physically bothering him?

“Not the hip,” Wembanyama said. “Other places, but not the hip.”

It was tied at 84 going into the extra session, after Wembanyama wasn’t much of a factor in the last 3-1/2 quarters of regulation.

Overtime was all Wemby.

He had eight points in the first 4:26. Nobody else scored a single point in that span — not from France, not from Japan — and he ensured that the hosts would escape.

He had help, most notably Matthew Strazel’s four-point play to tie the game for France with 10.2 seconds left in regulation — “the shot of his life,” Wembanyama said — and Japanese star Rui Hachimura, who had 24 points, getting ejected early in the fourth quarter after his second unsportsmanlike foul of the game.

Hachimura's teammates pressed on anyway, nearly pulling off a stunner.

“We lost Rui but never gave up," said 5-foot-8 Japan guard Yuri Kawamura, who led all scorers with 29 points. “That's it.”

It seemed like it would be a dominant Wembanyama night in the early going. Hachimura didn’t even bother jumping for the opening tipoff; he simply conceded it to Wembanyama, who had eight points in the first 3:20.

But he went strangely silent from there — until OT, that is.

“He’s an extremely talented player, No. 1 draft pick, one of the tallest players in the world, he's extremely skilled," said Japan center Josh Hawkinson, who spent a lot of his day guarding Wembanyama. “He's still 20 years old. Our game plan is to try to be a little bit physical with him. Obviously, as he matures and grows, he’s going to really grow into his body and be able to use his body extremely well.”

Wembanayma saved his best for the end, plus finished with 11 rebounds and six assists. And France survived.

“I don't know why he has to prove more,” France forward Bilal Coulibaly said. “He was being himself, a great teammate, a great player. Proud of him.”

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

France's Victor Wembanyama, left, France's Nicolas Batum, second from left, and France's Rudy Gobert, second from right, as Japan's Keisei Tominaga walks away after France defeated Japan in a men's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Japan's Yuki Kawamura, left, and France's Victor Wembanyama reach for a loose ball in a men's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Japan's Akira Jacobs, left, and France's Victor Wembanyama reach for a loose ball in a men's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

France's Victor Wembanyama, center, and Japan's Rui Hachimura, left, stand on the court as the crowd holds up light from their phones in a men's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

France's Victor Wembanyama claps as he leaves the court after France defeated Japan in a men's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

France's Victor Wembanyama, right, shoots as Japan's Josh Hawkinson defends in a men's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Japan's Josh Hawkinson, right, celebrates after scorn as France's Victor Wembanyama walks behind in a men's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

France's Victor Wembanyama comes down after shooting the ball as Japan's Hirotaka Yoshii defends in a men's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

France's Victor Wembanyama, center, shoots as Japan's Rui Hachimura, right, defends in a men's basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A fake video that ricocheted across the internet claiming tensions between France and the United Arab Emirates after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov's detention in Paris likely came from Russia, an analysis by The Associated Press shows, despite Moscow's efforts to maintain crucial ties to the UAE.

It remains unclear why Russian operatives would choose to publish such a video falsely claiming the Emirates halted a French arms sale, which appears to be the first noticeable effort by Moscow to target the UAE with a disinformation campaign. The Emirates remains one of the few locations to still have direct flights to Moscow, while Russian money has flooded into Dubai's booming real estate market since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

France, however, remains one of the key backers of Ukraine and its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the war grinds on. Meanwhile, Russia likely remains highly interested in what happens to Telegram, an app believed to be used widely by its military in the war and one that's also been used by activists in the past. And the move comes amid concerns in the United States over Russia, Iran and China interfering in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

Russia's Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

The fake video began circulating online Aug. 27, bearing the logos of the Qatar-based satellite news network Al Jazeera and attempting to copy the channel's style. It falsely claimed the Emirati government had halted a previously announced purchase of 80 Rafale fighter jets from France worth 16 billion euros ($18 billion) at the time, the largest-ever French weapons contract for export. It also sought to link Dubai's ruler and his crown prince son to the decision, as Durov holds an Emirati passport and has lived in Dubai.

Such a decision, however, was never made. The UAE and France maintain close relations, with the French military operating a naval base in the country. French warplanes and personnel also are stationed in a major facility outside the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi.

Reached for comment, Al Jazeera told the AP that the footage was “fake and we refute this attribution to the media network.” The network never aired any such claim when reporting on Durov’s detention as well, according to an AP check. On the social platform X, a note later appended by the company to some posts with the video identified it as “manipulated media.”

The video also appeared to seek to exploit the low-level suspicion still gripping the Gulf Arab states following the yearslong Qatar diplomatic crisis by falsely attributing it to the news network. State-funded Al Jazeera has drawn criticism in the past from Gulf nations over its coverage of the 2011 Arab Spring, from the United States for airing videos from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and most recently in Israel, where authorities closed its operation over its coverage of the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The social media account that first spread the video did not respond to questions from the AP and later deleted its post. That account linked to another on the Telegram message app that repeatedly shared graphic images of dead Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Russian messages.

Such accounts have proliferated since the war began and bear the hallmark of past Russian disinformation campaigns.

In Ukraine, the Center for Countering Disinformation in Kyiv, a government project there focused on countering such Russian campaigns, told the AP that the account engaged in “systematic cross-quoting and reposting of content” associated with Russian state media and its government.

That indicates the account “is aimed at an international audience for the purpose of informational influence,” the center said. It “probably belongs to the Russian network of subversive information activities abroad.”

Other experts assessed the video to be likely Russian disinformation.

The Emirati government declined to comment. The French Embassy in Abu Dhabi did not respond to AP's request to comment.

Durov is now free on 5 million euros bail after being questioned by French authorities and preliminarily charged for allegedly allowing Telegram to be used for criminal activity. He has disputed the charges and promised to step up efforts to fight criminality on the messaging app.

Despite the video being flagged as fake online, captions and versions of the video continue to circulate, showing the challenge of trying to refute such messages. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov just attended a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Saudi Arabia attended by the UAE. Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have mediated prisoner exchanges amid the war.

Given those close ties, the UAE likely will or has reached out quietly to Moscow over the video, said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a research fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute who has long studied the region.

“It may be that this is a part of the Russian playbook which is to seek to create wedges between political and security partners, in a bid to create divisions and sow uncertainty," Ulrichsen said.

“The importance of the UAE to Russia post-2022 does make it unusual, but it may be that the campaign is aimed primarily at France and that any impact on the UAE’s image and reputation is a secondary issue as far as those behind the video are concerned.”

Associated Press writer Volodymr Yurchuk in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

FILE - United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron pose for photographers ahead of their working dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Thursday, May 11, 2023. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)