The atmosphere was electric this evening at Ekinox, it was special. It was unlike any other evening experienced in this room, only ten years old it is true. There were evenings of victories and celebrations, of course, but the JL had never offered itself a European Cup semi-final.
3,5000 white jerseys flocked for the occasion. “Conquering Europe” perhaps, but before conquering Europe we still had to conquer this first match against Besiktas. Around fifty Turkish fans are seated in the corner, around four times as many remained on the square, nice try. Inside, in any case, a unique scent floats in the air. On the JL Bourg side, Kevin Kokila makes his return to the starting five, and Zaccharie Risacher too, we are returning to the good old habits from before March. The Turks’ assistant coach whistles louder than the referee even though he doesn’t have a whistle, boring, the JL defense is in place in the first quarter, not annoying. Zechariah? A 3-pointer in the corner that goes around the circle, a quick play concluded with a 2/2 to throws from Isaiha Mike and an interception in the axis, job is done, exit at 2.24 from the end of the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter, Bodian Massa made his gestures speak and the gap was minimal, 16-13, but the cause was identified: clumsiness with his throws.
Second quarter started with an 11-0, the famous strength of the second unit of the JL, symbolized again this evening by an Axel Julien who loves nothing less than these fiery atmospheres, by Bodian Massa and by Bryce Brown, perfect offensive AND defensive joker this evening. Zaccharie Risacher is back with 6.30 to play before halftime, it’s the return of the usual Freddy Fauthoux rotations, it’s the return of the rotating rotations. The gap is more and more significant, Zacch misses another three but blows a big counter in scred, Mike puts forward his enormous weekly dunk and after a final fight on the ground from Cedric Doumbé Zaccharie Risacher, the JL returns to the locker room with 14 points ahead, 44-30.
OH MY … MIKE 😱@JLBourgBasket x @EuroCup#SKWEEKLive pic.twitter.com/d4X53ZawOu
— SKWEEK (@skweektv) March 26, 2024
At half-time the announcer announces that due to the presence of ultras in front of the room the doors have been closed, and that as a result no one can leave. Live my claustrophobic life, let’s think of something else. Hey, found it, let’s think about the evening of April 20, we won’t have to pay attention to the number but it will be nice.
Third quarter let’s go, solid rebound from Zaccharie, three-way game with Mike and Massa, and one from the Canadian. The interiors of Besiktas are starting to do dirty things, Simonovic had started badly but is progressing in attack, Delgado has the name of a climber in the Tour de France but is starting his feast (15 points and 16 rebounds in the end). Dedication to an almost neighbor on the right who shouted “Come on Simone” every time the Montenegrin giant approached, evening ended with a loss of voice, cheh because the valve is still damn rubbish. Brief, the third quarter is that of fear, that of seeing the Turkish team come back, which had already come back from nowhere in the eighth and in the quarter. From almost 20 the gap narrowed to four very small points, a sluggishness to which the JL players responded with solidity at the start of the last quarter. We are almost there.
The detonator? We give it to you in a thousand words, we came for him, we have a mug and a t-shirt with his image and we made his profile in 3000 words: ZACCHARIE RISACHER. Two consecutive 3-point baskets to move the JL from 71-63 to 77-63, the matter is in the bag as Tintin would say, and the last minutes were only going to be back and forth between the throwing lines, to see this match end at 86-74 in favor of the Bressans. Zaccharie Risacher finishes with 8 points and 4 rebounds, and he is therefore 40 minutes from a EuroCup final, not bad to explode in the eyes of the world. To do this, we will have to try to win on Friday at the Sinan Erden Dome, in front of… 16,000 wild fans. Oh.
BUT ZACCHARIE?? YOU ARE CRAZY 😳@JLBourgBasket x @EuroCup#SKWEEKLive pic.twitter.com/bYEswi79MS
— SKWEEK (@skweektv) March 26, 2024
HIM AGAIN 😱@JLBourgBasket x @EuroCup#SKWEEKLive pic.twitter.com/vU1dJlY4GQ
— SKWEEK (@skweektv) March 26, 2024
For now let’s stay with this immense congratulations to JL Bourg and to the favorite crack of US scouts. In the other semi-final Paris beat London in Game 1, and we are therefore getting closer and closer to… no, hush hush, we’ll see.
2024-03-26 22:08:00
#Zaccharie #Risacher #EuroCup #semifinal
