fifth defeat in a row for Paris, the downfall is confirmed

Paris is sinking. Beaten in their last four matches in the Euroleague, after an incredible series of 10 consecutive victories, the Paris Basketball players gave in on the Red Star floor (85-69) this Friday, in the Belgrade volcano, to the count of the 20th day. Fifth consecutive loss on the European scene before hosting Anadolu Efes and Maccabi Tel Aviv. One out of three for the French clubs on this day, after the Monegasque disappointment at home on Thursday and the great victory of Asvel in Türkiye, earlier on Friday. 15 points for TJ Shorts, 13 from Kevarrius Hayes, the top scorers for a Parisian team lacking everything.

Determined as can be, the Parisians got the best start amid the Serbian uproar. Better than that: they scored the first nine points of the match (0-9). Plus 10 at the start of the second quarter (15-25), and again eight minutes before the break (18-28). Easy ? Not so much. The Parisian machine jammed a little more as the minutes passed. “They were more physical, stronger, faster, we were in the penalty box quickly and that took us out of our match», summarized Shorts at half-time, while the locals had equalized at the buzzer (39-39 MT). Everything to do again for Tiago Splitter players. “We’ll have to be as solid as in the first quarter and we’ll be fine.», added the pocket leader of the capital club, already at 12 points at this point in the game. Message received by his little comrades?

The melting room, Paris in decay

Not totally. Paris was still moving slowly. Enough to stay ahead for a while. And the Red Star made the switch on a gain from Miller-McIntyre at the head of the racket (45-43). Immediate response from Hifi (45-46). Right side. Hifi which continued to try, without success. Front side. Belgrade was hurting under the circle and the Parisians were motionless, blocked, muzzled. The melting room (50-46). So imagine after this XXL counter from Bolomboy on Lo… With a few offensive rebounds scraped here and there, throws and the vista of Shorts, Paris limited the damage (57-51, then 57-52 at the end of the 3rd QT). The French vice-champions could not hope for better with so little speed and ideas.

And it wasn’t getting better. Quite the opposite in fact… Address at half mast, still no movement or running in attack, still a delay in defense, a dominated interior sector… In these conditions, difficult to resist. Canaan sent a three-point bomb to give Red Star +10 (64-54). Alert ! In the end, Paris never found the key and Red Star – led by a great Nedovic in the fourth quarter – had a lead of up to 17 points in this one-sided encounter after the first quarter ( 78-61, then 85-69 final score). To forget. Above all to correct.