Facing Zalgiris Kaunas, Paris Basketball showed flawless mentality at the Adidas Arena to win (83-77). This is the 5th consecutive success of the novice club in the Euroleague which now has a record of 6 wins for 3 defeats and is in 5th place in the ranking.
Opposed to Zalgiris Kaunas who could join the top of the ranking in the company of the FC Barcelona and of Fenerbahcethe Paris Basketball started collectively strong while the Lithuanians relied on the new arrival Lonnie Walker IV to stay in touch with 5 points scored in a row (9-7). Laurynas Birutis followed suit with the next 7 points. After this salvo, Paris was led for the first time in the match (13-14) but Collin Malcolmwith an outside shot (17-14) allowed his team to win this first quarter (17-15).
Behind TJ Shorts and its 13 points (out of its 21 in total, 24 evaluation), the PB returned to the locker room with 4 points in advance (40-36), a meager advantage compared to the opposing bankruptcy behind the line: 1/ 14 after 13 unsuccessful attempts! Zalgiris briefly took the lead (20-21) but it was the men of Thiago Splitter who had control of the tempo. Thanks to 5 consecutive points of Nadir HifiParis went to +6 (29-23) then to +7 after a 3 point signed Bandja Sy (32-25). The Lithuanians got back together, notably by causing several team errors. This contributed to the 9-0 partial inflicted on the Parisians (32-33). Shorts then took the lead to score the last 6 points of the PB until the break.
By scoring a winning shot in his first possession, Zalgiris clearly wanted to make his opponent relent from now on. The 7-1 partial demonstrated it (41-43). What followed was a back and forth on the scoreboard. Trailing by 2 points (52-54), Paris scored 10 consecutive points, including two consecutive 3-pointers from Shorts and Hifi. Edgar Ulanov stopped the hemorrhage (62-56), which did not allow the BP to rise significantly.
This was the case at the start of the 4th quarter, with a 5-0 and a timeout already consumed by Zalgiris (67-56). This +11 gap held until halfway through the final period. The Lithuanians hoped to come back with a 2+1Ignas Brazdeikis (73-65) plus an exocet of Maodou Lô resonated like a hammer blow (76-65). Forced to be more aggressive, Zalgiris scored a 6-0 (78-71) and Sylvain Francisco had the shot to return to -4, without success. The French leader then left a point on the way after winning a foul under the opposing basket (78-72).
The Parisians could have collapsed under the pressure but Mikael Jantunenleft absolutely alone, planted the winning shot (81-72, 1’01 from the buzzer). By recovering the following possession, the PB definitively took cover (83-77)
Paris Basketball will travel to the Palau Blaugrana on Friday evening to face Barça.
