“There is the tree, the presents, the turkey and when you like basketball, there is the All Star Game. With all that, the end-of-year celebrations are a success.” Crossed in the cold and a queue in front of the Accor Arena, Julien, who accompanies his daughter Louna, summed it up.
The “all-star match” of French basketball has been lighting up the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day for quite some time. It must have lasted 32 winters. Between live music and urban dances, a (big) sound and light show, a match that is always (too?) spectacular, 3-point shooting competitions won by Anthony Labanca (Bourg), dunks (Joshua Uduje, Saint-Chamond, Elite 2) and one-on-one won this time by Nadir Hifi, its success can no longer be denied. The 100,000 euro shot from the midfielder by a spectator, however, was not won. It hasn’t been since 2013.
It has been this way since 2003 and for the 22nd consecutive time: the All Star Game of the National League takes place at the Accor Arena to a sold-out crowd. This time again, between two New Year’s Eves, the grounds on the banks of the Seine welcomed 15,912 people on December 28. We searched without finding a single free seat.
Five days after the 12,440 fans who came to help Paris Basketball defeat Red Star Belgrade in the Euroleague (102-92) at the same place, it shows one thing: there is a basketball audience in the capital and beyond.
The NBA, approaching to set up its league with Fiba on the old continent in around twenty months, no longer needs to be convinced. The NBA wants Paris, in a form yet to be defined with PSG in particular, to be part of the NBA Europe adventure. Because she knows that basketball is popular here.
The NBA considers that the French basketball All Star Game is the best in the world after its own. She admits to being inspired by it and lent for the occasion, the equestrian mascots of the Dallas Mavericks and the Detroit Pistons. The French-style All Star Game looks like an NBA evening without the NBA, and that’s what we like too.
A show that makes noise
The popular success of the All Star Game still remains a curiosity. It’s not a real match and it doesn’t matter who wins it. It’s a show that makes noise, which can sometimes even be a little long. But who found a magic formula: its date, the last Sunday of the year.
In 2002, the last time it was not “sold out”, the event brought together “only” 11,000 people including 5,000 guests. “But we had the right idea: the date,” remember the organizers. We were pioneers in organizing an event in the middle of the holidays. It’s been repeated everywhere since. Boxing Day became fashionable with the Top 14, but the All Star Game was the first to venture between Christmas and New Year’s Day, an ideal time for a family evening of sport and spectacle. »
However, it is difficult to speak of a slack period for basketball players, 48 hours after a Nanterre-Paris in the championship and two days before an Asvel-Paris Basketball in the Euroleague.
“It’s a great atmosphere”
But Bingo nonetheless. For basketball lovers, the All Star is a Christmas event like any other. For some, the entry ticket is even one of the gifts under the tree a few days earlier. This is the case of Céline, seen with a red and white cap on her head between two intermissions. “Santa Claus, or rather my darling, offered me the place. Let’s just say it’s one of our Christmas presents to both of us. I think it was more for him because he didn’t want to come alone but that’s okay with me too. It’s a nice atmosphere. »
In the middle of all the fun, there is also a match with the best in French basketball, a selection of the best French players with Élie Okobo, Matthew Strazel and Nadir Hifi against the best foreigners in the championship led by the Monegasque Mike James. A gala game played at first without defense before the level tightened in the money time to offer real opposition won this time by Team France who won after two overtimes with a strong score 165-159.
