NBA Regular Season: Cleveland Beats Brooklyn 111-102 in Paris Match

Cleveland won against Brooklyn (111-102) the third NBA regular season match relocated to Paris, Thursday in front of a Bercy audience who waited for a long time before waking up during a contested last quarter, which raised the interest of the event. Like last year, for the meeting between Chicago and Detroit, the NBA’s visit to Europe attracted a few stars, mainly from the world of sport.

But Kylian Mbappé, David Beckham, Ronaldo, Siya Kolisi (captain of South Africa, double reigning world rugby champion and player of Racing 92) or even the artist Pharrell Williams, present on the edge of the floor, have during more than 30 minutes watched a match without much interest and in a cozy atmosphere between two teams with few supporters outside their home.

For a long time, the approximately 15,000 spectators only got excited occasionally about a few actions, like this counter from inside the Cavs Jarrett Allen (8th), this off-balance basket from Mitchell (18th), this dunk from Mikal Bridges (36th) or even this completely missed free throw two minutes earlier by Tristan Thompson.

They made more noise when the former partners of Real Madrid, Beckham and Ronaldo, appeared on the giant screen, or when Joakim Noah and Tony Parker came to greet the audience on the floor, during a time-out during the third quarter time. The decibels also rose when “Quentin” scored a “10,000 euro shot”, a shot just behind the three-point line, before the final quarter.

Mitchell catches fire

But while the Cavs seemed to be heading towards a comfortable success at halftime (54-34), Bercy ignited for a tough and contested last quarter, during which the two teams went blow for blow. An end to the game spiced up by a scuffle between the two teams (benches included), after Nic Claxton (Nets) had defeated Tristan Thompson with a dunk allowing Brooklyn to come back to within 10 lengths 10 minutes from the end (80- 70).

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Thompson was excluded, Jarett Allen and star Donovan Mitchell (45 pts and 12 rebounds) returned to put the Cavaliers on the right path, to ultimately resist the Nets’ comeback. Because the New Yorkers had come back to seven lengths on a “2+1” (basket plus foul) from Mikal Bridges (26 pts) five minutes from time (91-84).

Cleveland signs a fourth success in a row which puts it back up to 4th place in the Eastern Conference (22 wins for 15 losses), six wins ahead of Brooklyn (10th, 16/22), which deplores five losses in six matches played in 2024 Next year, the Parisian public should be excited well before the last quarter, for the very probable big return of Victor Wembanyama with the San Antonio Spurs. And this, perhaps for two meetings, a hypothesis confirmed at the start of the evening by NBA boss Adam Silver.

2024-01-12 00:59:16
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