Crucial change Wembanyama must make in Olympic rematch with Canada

The weight of the world is on San Antonio Spurs' star Victor Wembanyama and the French team's shoulders heading into the single-game elimination stretch of the Olympic Games against Canada. It's a tough draw for the tournament hosts, as Canada is considered the stiffest competition in the field outside of the U.S. and Serbia. It could have been avoided with a better performance in their final group play game, but Germany took it to them, forcing Team France into an unfavorable position.

They already matched up with this team in exhibition play, where they suffered their largest defeat (85-73) as a group until Team Germany took that crown. They'll be looking to right that wrong, understanding that winning this game gives them an opportunity to medal. Gold is almost certainly off the table, with Team USA looking like the Avengers, and silver is unlikely, but bronze is a realistic goal for this bunch. However, to reach it, Wemby will have to make a major adjustment.

Wembanyama has to do his work early

So far, defenses have decided that keeping Victor as far from the basket as possible is their best strategy for defending him, and it's worked for the most part. Despite his efficient shooting numbers, the 7'4" phenom has less of an impact offensively when you can cut off his path to the basket and crowd him. It's going to be difficult for France to combat that without the type of sharpshooters that would make teams pay for that game plan, but it's doable with smart team play.

Dillon Brooks and the rest of Team Canada will get physical with Wembanyama. He needs to get to his positions early and use his quickness to negate the rough play his opponents are deploying against him. If he can dominate and make the game easy for his teammates, they stand a chance at knocking off Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks—a feat that would provide Spurs fans with a nice end-of-summer gift.