In Paris, not all the sports centers are in the Parc des Princes. In the north of the French capital, Paris Basketball, founded in 2018, is growing by leaps and bounds, which this year is being the ogre of the EuroCup and which this Thursday defeated Joventut in the single-game quarterfinals (86-70 ).
The club led by former Minnesota Timberwolves executive David Kahn inaugurated a few weeks ago the Adidas Arena, the only facility built for this summer’s Games, which hosted the first European match in its history against Badalona. Despite the pedigree of the green and black, Carles Duran’s men did not start as favorites against a French team that had already won both games against them in the regular phase. And the third time was not the charm either, with the Badaloneses knocked off their path to victory in the third quarter.
At the beginning, the Catalans withstood the great pace of Tuomas Iisalo’s men, who average 100 points in the tournament. The exchange of baskets, especially from three of the Parisians, was the tone in the first quarter. Until the success of TJ Shorts, the best of the game (21 points), began to erode the visitor’s resistance at the end of the initial period (24-17).
Two three-pointers in a row by Andrews, the most inspired of the duel (25 points), and the experience of Tomic, who was a doubt due to a personal problem, put the black-and-white team in the mix, and they improved before the break (40-35).
The fluidity of the first half was interrupted in the third quarter, each basket becoming more expensive and the game becoming more difficult. The new scenario seemed to favor Joventut, only one point down after another triple from Andrews (46-45), but the intensity of Paris on both sides of the court tipped the balance with a partial 13-0 before the final push ( 62-48).
Feliz appeared in the fourth quarter with 8 points to make his team dream. A mirage that faded with two and a half minutes left with a long three-pointer from Hifi (78-63), denied until that moment in the shot. La Penya will not be able to repeat last season’s semifinals, a round in which the incipient Parisian project debuts. The London Lions will be their rival.
