Where will they stop? We asked ourselves the question after the success of Paris Basketball on Wednesday in its stadium at the Adidas Arena against the Lithuanians of Kaunas (83-77). We still don’t have the answer after another XXL performance from the TJ Shorts partners this Friday in Barcelona. The Parisians defeated the great Barça, in his room (103-87).
Neither tired nor impressed, the Parisians lit the first fuses and took off quite quickly (31-18 at the end of the first quarter). After a time of adaptation, Barcelona responded to inflict a comeback of sinister memory on Paris, and take the lead at the break (48-45).
Far from collapsing, the Parisians reacted well at half-time. In no way impressed by all the Barça stars, Tiago Splitter’s players produced a superb 3rd quarter which allowed them to bring the Catalans up to the score. TJ Shorts signs a delicious 8th assist at the buzzer for Ward, and Paris takes the lead (73-70).
At the start of the last period, the two teams initially went blow for blow. Then Paris quickly offers itself a mini-break, after two missed free throws from the Catalans, followed by two baskets from Yakuba Ouattara, then a winning shot from Nadir Hifi (88-77). Everyone gets in tune, like Maodo Lo (20 points), and Barcelona sinks.
TJ Shorts, masterful, turns Barcelona heads. The Parisian prodigy will finish the match with 24 points and 9 assists, and is named man of the match after a one-sided end to the match for Paris. “We managed to find solutions at the end of the match,” confided the hero of the evening to Skweek’s microphone. Everyone trusts me, my teammates, my coach. It was a good evening for me. »
“We found the shots in the second half, we reacted well,” comments coach Tiago Splitter soberly. Where will his team stop? “I don’t know, we take it match by match.” The next one is Sunday in BetClic Elite, at the Adidas Arena against Strasbourg in an Adidas Arena which will still celebrate its heroes. Then in the Euroleague, where the Parisians are now tied for 2nd in the standings, it will be on Thursday November 21 in Istanbul, against Anadolu Efes, in a lively Turkish atmosphere. But, we understand, this Paris is not afraid of anything.
