By Eurohoops team/ [email protected]
Getting home wins against strong opponents is the first sign that you belong and the EuroLeague and Paris did exactly that, on their fifth straight triumph.
The French side got the 83-77 win over the Lithuanians who dropped to a 6-3 record and a five-way tie that includes Paris, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos, and Bayern Munich in the third spot of the standings.
TJ Shorts once more couldn’t be denied with 21 points and six assists, while Colin Malcolm had his best EuroLeague game yet with 17 points.
“It was a team effort, we all stepped up in the second half and were more physical and more aggressive, everyone made plays and protected the home court”said Shorts after the game.
Kevarrius Hayes against his old team flirted with a double-double (10 p. 9 r.).
For the losing side, Ignas Brazdeikis with 15 points was the top scorer, Lony Walker added eight points on 3/10 FG, Sylvain Fransisco had also eight with 0/8 threes and the whole team shot just 4/22 threes.
Paris in control
The first half was really close, despite Zalgiris making just one three out of 14 attempts. Paris had the lead for most of the time, but couldn’t create a distance, leading by one (17-16) after 10 minutes of action and by four (40-36) at halftime.
Shorts had already 13 points and two assists, and Malcolm added 10 points.
Lonny Walker with a three opened up the second half to make it a one-point game (40-39), Edgaras Ulanovas tied the score at 41 with two free throws and Birutis gave Zalgiris the 43-41 lead.
Still, Paris wasn’t rattled and closed the third period with a 10-0 run to build a 62-54 lead, before an Ulanovas tip-in to make the score 62-56 entering the fourth period.
However, Zalgiris couldn’t react, while having an off-shooting night. Paris stretched the lead to 11 points (67-57), then to 13 (78-65), and kept things in check until the end.
To be exact, Zalgiris did trim the lead to six (78-72) only for Mikael Jantunen to make a big three (81-72) with one minute left.
Photo credit: EuroLeague
