Can we put aside for one evening our belonging to a club, to a city, to a region? For the simple (and good!) reason that we have accreditation? The answer is obviously no. This evening Paris Basketball beat JL Bourg in a 100% French EuroCup final and will therefore represent France next year in the EuroLeague, the news is incredible for French basketball, even if the heart of the writer of this article bleeds.
A bressane (medium), a cheese maker (large), and a ravioli without bacon (large). Barely enough time to realize that my notebook also serves as a memo in the fridge on hungry evenings, that I have to quickly turn the page and start taking notes. Tonight is the big night, the Parisians came in large numbers and we even met a few of them at the Bar… “Le Parisien” in the afternoon, you can’t make it up, it’s right in front of the Notre-Dame Church, anyway.
First info: we thought that Ekinox would have difficulty being as loud as in the semi-final and well, we were right: Ekinox was… even noisier this evening. A first counter from Zaccharie Risacher, a second from Kevin Kokila, the formation made in 69 is doing well thank you for it. A few meters to my right stands courtside Dejan Bodiroga, ultimate legend of European basketball, and two places further on my former bazaar department manager at Carrefour Market, that’s also the joys of high level at home. On the field Jeremy Morgan seems to have recovered all his faculties after his ankle injury, Zaccharie spin like a top but he is countered, and Isiaha Mike does his job as leader. 13-9 JL Bourg, we won’t take Bressans twice from the missed start of the match.
The timeless moment of this first quarter? The ultimate Kamoulox? François Hollande arriving in the stands, quickly dressed in a beautiful red scarf for the occasion. When we tell you that the evening is special we are only half exaggerating.
Haha “former president of France” in fashion we drafted him pic.twitter.com/NCNWmlDxBr
— Arthur Baudin (@ArthurJBaudin) April 12, 2024
Barely time to wonder if the President came on a scooter when the first quarter ends with a final blunder from Hugo Benitez at the buzzer, 26-22 JL Bourg, we are holding the right bou(rg). Bodian Massa attacks again, Zaccharie does not let go of TJ Shorts’ shorts, JeQuan Lewis replaces him well, the JL remains in the lead as the first turning point of the match occurs. We’re not talking about this Kung Fu Panda 4 movie ticket that strangely fell out of my pocket, but rather a furious dunk from Jeremy Morgan followed by the third foul from… Jeremy Morgan, already, followed by a technical foul for… Jeremy Morgan. Four fouls for the man who was then Bourg’s best player, when he had just told the referee that his béchamel was too salty? A shame, in short. The JL manages as best they can to manage this weak time, Zaccharie flies away and adds two points all in poetry and continues a missed shot, dribble on the foot and foul on Shorts. Ouch. Maxime Courby returns to give the warriors some breathing room before half-time, the JL is still in front, 46-43.
Upon returning from the locker room (and therefore from the refreshment bar for yours truly), the tension increases a notch, just like the calls of the foot of my bladder. A Bressan fan yells “assassin!” on Nadir Hifi’s mistake, I tell myself that he would probably say the same thing if he saw me knocking out a taco, but let’s get back to the point. Paris strengthens its game, Nadir Hifi again sends him a big 3-pointer, Bodian Massa responds with an alley-oop and… Nadir Hifi ENCORE adds 3 points but gives us one on the throw because he is also a great actor ( technical foul for flopping). Nice try Nad, nice try too… François Hollande, who achieves the feat of being the only person in all of Ekinox to be off-beat during the clapping. Chirac 98, but in Bourg-en-Bresse.
In the score Jéremy Morgan came back to do some dirty and brings the JL to 59-61, and the EuroLeague employees warn us of the presence on our tables of a QR Code to elect the MVP of the match. I remind my neighbor that Jiki is not on the list, my neighbor is not laughing, quite logical. Axel Julien and JeQuan Lewis score, 63-63, Kevin Kokila does what the Parisians almost didn’t do in the match, namely missing shots, when the bamboo blow, the club blow, the Trafalgar blow occurs for the locals, the residents. 3-point shot from Jantunen, 3-point shot from Ward, a long rebound which comes back into the hands of Jantunen – we know what Benoit Paire would have said – and another basket from the Finn. The rest will only be utopian, the end will only be more painful, the man who once screamed “murderer!” moved on to chapter 2 with an incredible “put a cork in it it’ll shut it up”. Nadir Hifi does anything and seems to want to offer a little suspense to the “peasants” as the Parisian supporters then chant, but it is also he who destroys what hope remains for the crowd in red with a last shot of which he has the secret.
89-81 final score, and if in the content JL Bourg could perhaps have hoped for better, the result is ultimately damn logical. Paris remains on 19 matches without defeat and has ROLLED in this European Cup, the JL is a magnificent finalist but Tuomas Iisalo’s players are monstrous winners, quite happy to offer a shower to their coach in the training center of the JL transformed for the occasion into a press room:
The beginning of the experience is when you remember not to put your phone on the press conference table after a trophy.
☔️ Tuomas Iisalo and TJ Shorts showered by all the other EuroCup winners. pic.twitter.com/LgN4bEGS0p
— Alexandre Lacoste (@Alex__Lacoste) April 12, 2024
TJ Shorts MVP of the Final, no joke, Paris is heading into the EuroLeague and that’s good for French basketball, but for my part it’s for another crack that I will reserve my last words of the day. A crack for whom the season is obviously not over, but who experienced one of his first big defeats as an adult this evening. A crack that allowed me, among other things, to live six incredible months in a finally adequate time zone. And it’s not over, I promise.
😢😢😢 pic.twitter.com/kR4iOsesnk
— Le Psy TrashTalk 👨👩👧👧 (@giovannim6) April 12, 2024
2024-04-12 23:25:37
#Paris #Basketball #wins #EuroCup #Bourg
