In the final phase, missing your start when you are chasing home advantage can be paid for in cash. Asvel had the painful experience of this on Thursday in Paris at the start of its semi-final, best of five matches, against the winners of the Eurocup.
In rout from the first quarter, led by 27 points after twelve minutes (38-11), with her pivot Youssoupha Fall sent to the locker room in the 12th minute for a bad gesture (low blow) on Enzo Shahrvin, she had the deserves to cling to the branches. She took out the defensive ideas box and relied on the experience of Joffrey Lauvergne at the finish to eat up the deficit and come back to eleven lengths at the break (50-39).
In the heart of the third quarter, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot even got two free throws to come back to four small points and completely restart the match. But the ex-Brooklyn Nets winger, heckled by the Adidas Arena kop
who faced him, missed his two shots and, in the process, Paris punished the failure with its usual cynicism and passed an 8-0, by Nadir Hifi and Mehdy Ngouama, to annihilate any hope of saving the castaways at once sending.
The third poison of the back lines, season MVP TJ Shorts, added two homemade shots from the free throw line to end the quarter. And Paris finished at a slow trot (94-81), with a nice 13 out of 25 from three points, to take the lead in a series whose second act is for tomorrow.
“Paris is conquering and confident”
Pierric Poupet, coach of Asvel
The key to the enigma of the first act was quickly found. Asvel will have to phosphorus to keep the suspense alive. Charles Kahudi’s teammates have played three matches against Paris this season, lost three times and spent the last two evenings on the ropes.
“Paris had a wake-up call (in the quarter-finals, 81-91 defeat against Cholet in the first leg) and they are in the process of creating a series again. It is the demonstration for the third time against us of their athletic impact and energy,” noted coach Pierric Poupet, who praised the quality of his opponent’s start more than the weakness of his team. “It’s obvious that Paris is conquering and confident, it’s not just a catastrophic start to the match. Game 2 will be another story, but tonight I don’t have the solution. »
The Asvel sank from the start
The Asvel sank in the first seconds. Chloroformed by a team in which everything succeeded, with a dazzling 9 out of 11 on shots with 5 out of 5 from three points after six minutes. Usually a shadow soldier, winger Colin Malcolm was the driving force behind this great departure. “This advantage (38-11) reflected logic because we then did a lot of winning things on the field, at a very high level,” noted Tuomas Iisalo, as laudatory as he was critical of his players, whose second half he did not appreciate. -time.
2024-05-23 23:14:27
#Paris #signs #solid #success #Asvel #pockets #match #semifinals
