LILLE (France) - You talk to Mathias Lessort. You talk to Victor Wembanyama. Talk to Vincent Collet. To Nicolas Batum. Matthew Strazel. All of them repeated just one word, over and over again:
"Miracle."
Japan were just ten seconds away from winning their first game at the Olympics since 1976. What a win it would've been, against the hosts of the event, France, in front of more than 27,000 fans in the stands of the Pierre Mauroy Stadium, where the silence would've been deafening.
Problem is, we will never know that sound. Because France swung the ball around and found the 21-year-old on the left wing. He took a dribble, moved to the left, got up in air and sent a hail Mary attempt towards the rim.
Prayers were answered, the roof nearly went off the stadium with the decibels reaching triple digits as Strazel knocked down a four-point play to send the game to overtime.
"He's been playing at this level since he's 17, so he's really experienced even though he's really young. And that shot was big. He had ba**s to take that shot and made it, he saved us," Mathias Lessort offered.
"Matthew Strazel saved us! He didn't have an easy game against Brazil, he started and played only four minutes. But he worked hard these last two days, didn't give up, and tonight he was amazing. He really saved our tournament. He was huge. Huge," Nicolas Batum added.
"It could be only a three, and the defender was not supposed to come to contest the shot when you are +4. That's normally something you don't do, so we are lucky that he took this decision. He was very close to blocking the shot, and I thought for a long time when Matthew took the shot that it could be a block, but fortunately for us, it wasn't, he made a three, and it was and-one. It was like a miracle, for sure," coach Vincent Collet explained the whole sequence of trying to erase a four-point deficit.
Back to Lessort: "We needed a miracle, and he made it happen."
Moving it to Batum again: "As a basketball fan, you want a game like that."
And on to Victor Wembanyama: "(It felt) unreal, even though I know Matthew. It's probably the best shot of his life."
The big guy is probably Matthew Strazel's biggest fan. Just read this next quote about a guy who is just a year older than Wemby.
"He represents the slow grind. He's really taking the slow path, the hard path on the professional level, earning every single one of his minutes, and it's paying off. I'm sure, in a couple of years, if not in a couple of months, he's gonna have a major role in his club, and he's got all the tools to play a major role here. It's a career that deserves a lot of respect," the superstar told the media members after the game.
Finally, the man of the hour. Strazel is turning 22 next week, so consider this an early birthday present for himself.
"It's clearly a miracle. I'm lucky it went in. I had an open look but I like these type of situations, putting the ball on the floor with my left hand before getting my shot up. I like these type of situations late in the game. Thank God he fouled me, I made the free throw and we were able to force the overtime," Matthew told RMC Sport, still trying to catch his breath after all of that madness.
France haven't won a medal with this, not even close, but they are definitely feeling a lot better after surviving that Japanese heroic effort.
If they had lost, they would've been at 1-1 with a game against the reigning world champions Germany on Friday, with a serious chance of not making the Quarter-Finals.
Thanks to the Miracle Shot, they are now inches away from securing their ticket to Paris.
FIBA