At the Paris Bercy Arena,
There are evenings when one naively thinks of enjoying a sporting event 100%, like here with the first NBA game a live of our life. But to 20 Minutes, our total dedication to investigative work always catches up with us. Barely arrived in the press room of the Arena de Bercy on Thursday, we see on an accreditation sheet that one of the best represented media on this Paris NBA Game happens to be… Picsou Magazine, with four people expected. Something to pique our curiosity, especially since the places reserved for journalists in our Proust madeleine happen to be placed closer to the field, alongside NBA employees.
And yes, the kind of mystery that makes you put the issue into perspective of a game between the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls quickly twisted suspense (108-126) by the class of the trio LaVine (30 points)-DeRozan (26 points)-Vucevic (16 points). Enlightenment will finally come to us at the press conference postgame footage from Bulls star Zach LaVine. A child suddenly takes the microphone, with aplomb and malice, in the middle of about sixty sports journalists: “I wear number 8 when I play basketball with my club because you are my idol. And I wanted to know why you wear number 8, and who was your idol when you were my age? “.
The NBA’s confidence in a 12-year-old
This nice moment of complicity between this boy and a Zach LaVine very touched by his declaration was in the background too “Kamoulox” that the strong presence of Picsou Magazine to cause stepback and crossover. Bingo! We go to interview the hero of the post-game, who is at the side of his dad. ” It all started with a junior reporter competition… in Picsou Magazine, explains the latter. On the occasion of this NBA match, you had to write a 100-word article to present your favorite basketball player, then you had to wait for the draw. »
This is how Nathan Robert (12), player at the Saint-Marcel club in Marseille, hit the jackpot, spending the evening on the sidelines, with his father and Jean-Baptiste Roux and Sébastien Floch, two journalists from the famous magazine. And with a visit to the beIN Sports set as a bonus, and therefore then a presence for the players’ press conference appreciated by the NBA. “I was quite stressed anyway, because usually I only see Zach LaVine on television, confides the young Marseillais. There, I had to give myself courage. But I’m starting to think it’s good enough to be a journalist. » Editor-in-chief of Picsou MagazineJean-Baptiste Roux specifies: “The people of the NBA were very cool because they immediately accepted that Nathan could ask a question, without even knowing what he was going to ask the player”.
“A 100% NBA trip, but in France”
This coolness of the American League, organizer from A to Z or almost of this match at Bercy, we could immediately feel it. Our press accreditation would never have allowed us, on a French sporting event, to wander absolutely everywhere around the floor, seeing in passing Bulls players analyzing Pistons attacks on a computer, at two o’clock from kick-off. Even the spectators have the possibility of leaving their place in all simplicity to approach the ground, and potentially the stars present in shambles Thursday evening (Magic Johnson, Tony Parker, Gerard Piqué without his Twingo, Pierre Gasly…).
“With the NBA, it’s not just basketball, there’s an incredible aura around it, in addition to the show. We feel that it’s an American event, and a 100% NBA trip for us, but in France”, deciphers Vincent (42), who came from Lyon with his son Quentin, who received a hell of a birthday present for his 11 years old this week. Because this NBA Paris Game involves a fairly dizzying budget for the 14,700 spectators. Hang on tight, prices varied between 80 and 815 euros, even soaring up to 1,875 euros for those who wanted to live the ultimate experience, the courtside (edge of the field).
Rates well above what is done in the NBA
“I paid 400 euros for each of our seats, and I remember having attended a game in the 2012 NBA Finals between Miami and Oklahoma City which cost me less than 200 dollars, explains Vincent. At the same time, I would do the same as them, when you see the line of madness that was outside. In this huge crowd, which had to pay for a ticket whose average price is 500 euros, we even meet Israelis, Romanians and Poles, all of whom came to Paris especially for this match. This shows how the rarity of the NBA outside its borders pushes these addicts to the exploits of Michael Jordan, in the 1990s, to heat up the credit card. Accompanied by his wife Marta and his daughter Marcelina (9 years old), the Pole Arec is aware that he had only paid 9 dollars to attend a regular season game in Atlanta a few years ago. “But there, we do not have to obtain a visa to see the Bulls, continues Arec. And even if of course, there are no longer Jordan and Pippen, we want to pass on our passion for Chicago to the second generation of the family. »
Coming from much closer, from Seine-Saint-Denis in this case, Sylvain (38) is like so many other basketball enthusiasts in a process of transmission Thursday, with his son Tom (11) amazed by the lights and pre-match entertainment alongside him. “I trembled when I validated the payment of 600 euros for both of us, but I told myself that it was once in my life, he says. The opportunity is really there, they are the ones coming to us. And too bad if it’s not the ideal preparation before a Friday marked by a 7 o’clock alarm clock and three checks in a row for Tom in college. “Ah yes, dear, I had totally forgotten”, smiles the child, addicted to The Last Dance.
“It was a privilege to be part of it”
Despite all the American-style show, and the nice tributes to former NBA legends, there was inevitably a touch of disappointment, at 11:30 p.m., when all the fans started to leave Bercy. Because the opposition between the 10th and the last in the Eastern Conference was, as one might fear, not exciting, and moreover devoid of suspense from start to finish. “We wanted to touch the atmosphere of an NBA match, says Sebastian (30), who came from Romania with a friend. Of course we would have had more fun with better teams in the league. But any NBA game is still better than all the basketball we’ve seen so far in our lives. »
And now it denigrates the clash between Cluj and Ploiesti, respectively first and third in the Romanian championship (ok, we went to get this info). Finally, how did the players experience this experience which remains very rare in an NBA playing career? “There was a wonderful atmosphere, savors DeMar DeRozan. It was a privilege to be part of it. In several years, we will realize what a great moment it was. “Nathan will probably only need a sleepover to fully grasp that he was not in the middle of a dream facing Zach LaVine.
