The 2024 Olympics men’s basketball tournament got underway on Saturday, and the headliner of the first day of action was the host nation France playing their first game against Brazil.
The French side has medal expectations and figure to be one of the biggest threats to the USA for the gold, as their roster is headlined by Victor Wembanyama and Rudy Gobert, who create a terrifying defensive tandem in the paint. The two top vote getters in last year’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year award race figure to make it tough to get to the rim in the half court, but transition is a whole different ball game as we learned early in France’s opener.
The Brazilian squad got out on the break and Joao Cardoso authored the early frontrunner for highlight of the Olympics with a crazy alley-oop finish over Gobert, sending the 4-time DPOY crashing to the floor.
JOAO CARDOSO
pic.twitter.com/xCphxYQ65a
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) July 27, 2024
Part of being a great rim protector is going after blocks that you may not have a chance to get, and that means getting dunked on. Gobert is no stranger to that, but this is one of the most vicious finishes we’ve seen over him and the Brazil team was rightfully hyped after Cardoso put the Stifle Tower on a poster.