All Star Game: the foreign team wins before the return of the gauges

American-style show, light shows and full sound: the 16,000 spectators of Paris Bercy thrilled in front of the Elite All Star Game won by the foreign selection, the last indoor celebration for French sport before the return of the gauges sanitary facilities. An hour before the start of the event, spectators were flocking to Paris Bercy with already a lot of excitement, and the relief to see the event maintained.

It came close to it: on Monday, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced the return of a 2,000-seat sanitary gauge for sporting events and the closure of refreshments from January 3, for three weeks, facing the surge in Covid contaminations. “We offered my son the place four days ago for Christmas. He unpacked it at the foot of the tree and we hoped to be able to come despite the restrictions and the evolution of the Covid“breathes Axel Toulouse, a 42-year-old SNCF agent.”It’s a good time before a long time, so we’ll make the most of it“Says Cléo Tuyeras, who came with her sister and her father for the annual French basketball festival.

In the room, the shadow of the Covid-19 still hovered over the meeting: messages encouraging the spectators to respect the barrier gestures were projected on the four giant screens which overhang the field, as the stands filled up. . But the show resumed its rights and a thrill of excitement ran through the spans of Bercy when the lights went out to give way to the countdown signifying the start of the festivities. The atmosphere heated up with the help of the leaders, won by the American rear of Elan Béarnais Justin Bibbins, quicker to tame the route made up of slaloms and various shots than his competitors.

Spiderman hovers over a motorbike

Very quickly, the meeting so awaited by the spectators – masked on the whole – began … Except for the French selection, which completely missed its start of the match and found itself behind 13-0 in the middle of the first quarter -time, despite the defense almost absent from the world selection, as often during the All Star Game. So Vincent Collet, chosen to train the French, put down a time-out, after which the leader of Asvel Elie Okobo finally scored the first three points for his team, on an outside shot. Three points is ultimately what separated the two teams at half-time (49-46 for the selection of the best foreigners).

The all stars then gave way to the highlight of the show: the dunks competition. The prize for the most beautiful stunt went to Dylan Affo Mama, who, decked out in a Spiderman hood, jumped over a motorcycle and its driver before dunking with both hands, in an electric atmosphere. This figure notably enabled the Tours winger to win the most spectacular of competitions.

“What the spectators wanted”

In the third quarter, Elie Okobo justified the confidence of the public, who selected him for this match, by catching fire: he slammed a dunk then two consecutive award-winning shots in step-backs. He even did better at the end of the match, equalizing a three-point imbalance two seconds from time to snatch extra time, exploding Bercy.

Alas, that was not enough, and the foreign selection was imposed at the end of the extension 111-110, thanks, among other things, to an award-winning shot from the leader of Gravelines Brandon Taylor (22 points), elected MVP (best player) of the match. “It was incredible, I think that’s what the spectators wanted, to have a close game from start to finish, which only happened at the very end. There was like a playoff atmosphere“, he rejoiced after the match. The American leader was not mistaken: for the public of Paris Bercy, the stake was especially to benefit one last time from the atmosphere of a sold-out room .