LILLE (France) - Satou Sabally erupted for 33 points to inspire first-timers Germany past Japan 75-64 and into the Quarter-Finals of the Women's Olympic Basketball Tournament Paris 2024.
The forward was unstoppable and the standout player by far in the contest, although it was another fine team display from Germany who used their size advantage smartly.
Turning point
There was no standout defining moment, since Germany just gradually turned the screw to impose their will on Japan. A slow burner, they simply continued to shut down the Japanese offense and never relented with this.
Even when Japan briefly threatened to overhaul them in the last two minutes, they stayed impressively composed.
Game hero
Sabally was unstoppable and racked up 33 points in the contest, most of them coming in the first-half when she was rampant.
She shot a superb 65 percent for the game and also added 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
Stats don't lie
Germany controlled the glass and won that battle 48-34, while from a Japan perspective, they made many unforced errors. They committed 16 turnovers which is not super-high but Germany only had 6 steals which shows how many times Japan threw it away under no pressure. They also shot 9 from 30 from three-point range and that is down on expectations considering their style of basketball.
Bottom line
Germany were missing Nyara Sabally after she sustained a head injury in the opening game and that could have been a big problem. To their credit, they didn't miss her as much as might have been anticipated, with other players stepping up.
They were too good on the glass, made sure their transition defense in particular was good enough to slow down Japan and came out as deserved winners. It's turning into a fairytale first edition so far - helped by the sparkling play of Satou Sabally.
Japan were missing arguably their best player in Mai Yamamoto and it showed. They were a little sloppy in possession and couldn't find their trademark range from downtown consistently enough. As was the case against USA, they were out-muscled and struggled to contain the physical size of their opponents as they fell to 0-2.
They said
"It was an incredible performance by these women, considering how many players we have had out with injuries or illness. We hope to have Nyara [Sabally] back at some point because she is such an important player for our team." Germany head coach, Lisa Thomaidis. "Everyone did their job today. We had to learn throughout the game. Everyone contributed in rebounding, bringing the ball up and executing the plays. Transition defense was our number one emphasis. Don't let them get into their rhythm shooting and sometimes you have to give us some easy two's which doesn't always feel great when you get beat easy and they make an easy layup but it's better than a three.
"We did really good and had moments when we were lacking because of their speed. We are such a talented team. It's a question of us continuing to play together now." Germany center, Marie Guelich.
Quick notes
- Japan have lost both of their opening two games of an Olympic Games for the very first time (sixth tournament) whilst since 2016 no team has suffered more defeats than Japan at the Olympics (7 – level with France, China and Serbia). - Germany became the eighth team ever to win their first two games at the Olympic Games with each of the last four to do so all being European teams: Belgium in 2020, Turkey in 2012 and France in 2000. - Satou Sabally (33pts – 65%/50%) became the 28th player to score 30+ points in a game at the Olympics but just the fourth of those to do so whilst hitting 65%+ on field goal percentage and a 50%+ success rate on three-point attempts, alongside Bulgaria’s Evladiya Stefanova in 1988, Australia’s Penny Taylor in 2016 and Senega’s Astou Traore in 2016. - Maki Takada (15pts) recorded 15+ points for the sixth time in her last seven games at the Olympic Games, moving ahead of Mikiko Hagiwara (5) for the most such games for Japan in the competition. - Luisa Geiselsöder recorded Germany’s first double-double at the Olympic Games (10pts, 10reb) with all 10 of rebounds today being defensive rebounds, at least twice as many than any of her teammates.
FIBA